Chamber of Shame, Indeed
Tony Blankley has a must-read about the timid souls in the US Senate who have decided -- now that the surge has just become fully operational in Iraq -- that it's time to cut 'n run. It's a must read. A key section:
None of these senators has even addressed the question of whether the U.S. is safer if we leave Iraq than if we stay. Isn't that the key question? The question is not whether the Iraqi government deserves American sacrifice on their behalf. Our sons and daughters are not fighting, being grievously wounded and dying for Iraq — but for American vital interests. If this were just about Iraqi democracy, I might join the screaming for a quick exit.
But if al Qaeda can plausibly claim they drove America out of Iraq (just as they drove the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan) they will gain literally millions of new adherents in their struggle to destroy America and the West. We will then pay in blood, treasure and future wars vastly more than we are paying today to manage and eventually win our struggle in Iraq.
That's what I was trying to communicate in my Townhall column when I wrote:
In fact, in a real sense, the progress (or lack thereof) of the Iraqi government must be a secondary factor in America’s decision whether to continue fighting in Iraq. That’s because our paramount concern is less the details of Iraq’s governance than it is the national security of the United States. The former is relevant only insofar as it impacts the latter. And so long as a withdrawal from Iraq will be construed by our enemies as an emboldening victory for them and a humiliating surrender for us, it’s an option that must remain off the table.
None of these senators has even addressed the question of whether the U.S. is safer if we leave Iraq than if we stay. Isn't that the key question? The question is not whether the Iraqi government deserves American sacrifice on their behalf. Our sons and daughters are not fighting, being grievously wounded and dying for Iraq — but for American vital interests. If this were just about Iraqi democracy, I might join the screaming for a quick exit.
But if al Qaeda can plausibly claim they drove America out of Iraq (just as they drove the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan) they will gain literally millions of new adherents in their struggle to destroy America and the West. We will then pay in blood, treasure and future wars vastly more than we are paying today to manage and eventually win our struggle in Iraq.
That's what I was trying to communicate in my Townhall column when I wrote:
In fact, in a real sense, the progress (or lack thereof) of the Iraqi government must be a secondary factor in America’s decision whether to continue fighting in Iraq. That’s because our paramount concern is less the details of Iraq’s governance than it is the national security of the United States. The former is relevant only insofar as it impacts the latter. And so long as a withdrawal from Iraq will be construed by our enemies as an emboldening victory for them and a humiliating surrender for us, it’s an option that must remain off the table.
posted by LadybugUSA at 10:09 AM
2 Comments:
How absurd. Bin Laden did not gain millions of recruits by driving the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan, with the help of Reagan and the CIA. And he will not do so here.
This childish rhetoric is what makes the US so disliked because in a round about way he is calling the coalition of the willing, that turned into the unwilling, wimps.
The US invasion and presence along with that ridiculous US petro industry written oil bill is preventing an internal reconciliation and the neighboring countries from coming to the table.
Blankley has been wrong so many times during the past four years, it is surprising he hasn't been put out to pasture or carried off to a padded cell.
Amen!
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