Howard Dean calls Iraq War unwinnable; Michael Reagan calls for his arrest, trial, and execution.
Every time Howard Dean has made a call on the Iraq War, he has turned out to be right. He was right when he said we were no safer with the capture of Saddam. Now, he is right when he says the Iraq War is unwinnable. The hysterical Republicans have responded by crawling into the warm spiderhole of denial. The worst case was when Michael Reagan called for the arrest, trial, and execution of Dean. This is a perfect example of the hysterical behavior that the Republicans engage in that substitutes for debate. In so doing, Reagan tramples on his father's legacy.
Ronald Reagan was never the kind of person to foam at the mouth. He had a strong sense of history and believed that ultimately, history would prove him right. Therefore, he did not engage in the kind of hysterical rhetoric that his on son engages in. A perfect example of this was when the Soviet Union shot down a Korean Airlines flight that had strayed into Soviet airspace. Reagan decided to do nothing, correctly believing that history would show them for the monsters that they are. And incidentally, Reagan recognized the futility of our trying to impose a peaceful situation on Lebanon, a situation very similar to Iraq. He pulled our troops out when he recognized the futility of the situation. It is scary when people like Reagan are much more reasonable when compared side by site with the hysterical Republicans of today. He would turn over in his grave.
Ronald Reagan turns over in his grave.
Here is what Howard Dean had to say about the war:
Dean stirred Republican wrath by telling San Antonio, Texas, radio station WOAI that "the idea that we're going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong."
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Dean called Iraq "the same situation we had in Vietnam.""Everybody then kept saying, 'Just another year, just stay the course, we'll have a victory.' Well, we didn't have a victory, and this policy cost the lives of an additional 25,000 troops because we were too stubborn to recognize what was happening," he said.
The Republicans are angry and hysterical, because they have been caught. They are acting like the Communist Party bosses back in the old Soviet Union who told their people that if they just trusted them a little longer, prosperity would be just around the corner.
But for all their hysteria, the Republicans are just not credible. That is because when the Democrats proposed over 10 different bills that would have helped our national security, the GOP opposed them all and would not even bring them to a vote. If that is not obstructing the legislative process for partisan political purposes, then I want to know what is. We're the party that puts the money in, while the Republicans are the party that takes the money out. And here are some more examples of how the Republicans oppose national security:
Talking about a strategic redeployment of National Guard troops that shouldn't even be there in the first place sends exactly the right message to the troops -- that Democratic leadership will defend our security without abusing or misusing our military. Failing to properly equip our service members with the necessary body armor to keep them as safe as possible sends the wrong message to the troops. Cutting veterans benefits while we are at war sends the wrong message to the troops. Forcing wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital to pay for their own meals sends the wrong message to the troops.
Further, failing to convict any high-level officers for the embarassment at Abu Ghraib sends the wrong message to the Iraqi people. Transporting suspects across the globe to Soviet-era secret prisons in Eastern Europe sends the wrong message to the Iraqi people. Paying newspapers to plant positive stories in Iraq sends the wrong message to the Iraqi people.
And frankly, diverting the necessary resources and personnel to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden sends the wrong message to everyone: our troops, the Iraqi people, our enemies, and the American people.
The Republicans have lost the debate about Iraq, and their own President knows it. So, all this hysteria is just the mark of a bunch of sore losers who are still in the spiderhole of denial and sitting at their kitchen tables at 4 in the morning hatching up the latest PR scheme to put lipstick on a pig.
It is no longer a question of if we will withdraw, but when. It is time for the Republicans to join us in a bipartisan manner to figure out the best way to withdraw from Iraq. Reader Ainsley Jo Phillips has an intelligent suggestion -- let's see how the troops feel about this mess. Every war opponent knows troops who oppose the war, while every war supporter can come up with just as many who support the war. Let Murtha pick four different soldiers who endorse his plan, and let Bush pick four soldiers who want to stay the course. Bring them all together on National TV, possibly on Nightline for an extended version. Let Ted Koppel ask them questions and take e-mail questions from the rest of the country and ask them. We could even hold a town-hall style meeting and have people present who are undecided about the war.
But it is not just a matter of what our troops think; it is what the Iraqi people think that matters. After all, it is their country we are occupying. Let's do the same with the Iraqi people -- get four Iraqi people who support our presence there and four who oppose our presence there and do the same thing. These shows should alternate every other week so that we generate dialogue about the best solutions to the war. And keep in mind that the Iraqi people have already spoken; 82% of them oppose our involvement in Iraq.