Ollie ping!
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Posted on 11/10/2006 4:59:33 AM PST by cgk
Quo vadis?
By Oliver North
Friday, November 10, 2006
"Where are you going?" According to the Apostle (John 16:5), Christ urged his followers to ask that question shortly before the tumult of his arrest, trial, execution and resurrection. In the aftermath of this turbulent week, it's a relevant line of inquiry for President Bush and the new leaders in Congress.
Notwithstanding all the pre-vote hype, post-election polls show that it wasn't just a wave of anti-war sentiment that swept Democrats into power. Three out of four American voters apparently voted for Democrats because of corruption and scandal in Washington. Fewer than half of those who cast a ballot claimed to be motivated by the prospect that a change in Congress would result in a new approach to the war in Iraq. And it now appears that the war isn't at the top of the new majority's agenda, either.
Since the results of Tuesday's election became obvious, Speaker-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly made clear her party's priorities are: "Jobs, healthcare, education, energy independence, a safer America, a dignified retirement -- that's what the Democrats are all about." What about Iraq? Answer: The Democrats don't have an easy answer and they have no prescription.
Though some, like Majority Leader wannabe Jack Murtha, made "Get Out Now" a mantra and others advocated "de-funding" U.S. involvement in Iraq, neither is going to happen. Rep. Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid want to lead the Congress -- and recapture the Oval Office in two years. They don't want responsibility for a potential failure in Iraq.
Throughout the long congressional campaign season, the only consistency among Democrats was that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had to "go," and there had to be "change" in Iraq. Now that the honorable Rumsfeld has tendered his resignation and removed himself as the Bush administration's lightening rod -- and former CIA Director Robert Gates has been nominated to replace him -- there has been a sudden awakening in Democrat ranks that they will have a share of the outcome in Iraq.
All that begs the question as to what happens now. If the new majority in Congress wants to tie the Bush administration in knots with investigations and a flurry of subpoenas, they can surely do so. That of course will do nothing to deter Wahabbi terrorists, Shia radicals and the Muslim Brotherhood from pursuing their jihad against us. Nor will it do anything to help the Iraqi government establish security and stability in Mesopotamia.
The challenges ahead are formidable. Notwithstanding Gates' failure to be confirmed as CIA director when he was nominated for the post in 1987, it now appears as though old opponents like Messrs. Carl Levin and Ted Kennedy will allow the Gates appointment to be "fast tracked" through the Senate. But changing leaders at the Pentagon doesn't mean things are automatically going to get better.
Until his nomination to become defense secretary this week, Gates has been serving on the so-called bi-partisan Iraq Study Group (ISG), headed by former Secretary of State Jim Baker and retired Rep. Lee Hamilton. Because of the electoral outcome -- and Gates' involvement in preparing the ISG recommendations -- the panel's report is now being viewed in Washington as a panacea for what the Democrats have called the "quagmire" of Iraq. It's not.
There are no quick fixes in Iraq or Afghanistan. They are but campaigns in a protracted war we did not want -- but which we must win. The ISG's report does offer new perspectives on why it has been so difficult for the Baghdad government to unify the country and provide sufficient security to rebuild Iraq's shattered economy. And those who believe that negotiations are an end unto themselves will be cheered by encouragement to open a dialogue with Tehran and Damascus on a whole range of issues.
But the president and this new Congress should view skeptically that which equates the jihad being waged against the West with the Arab-Israeli conflict of the last half-century. Even if Israel disappeared tomorrow -- as advocated by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad -- Islamic radicals would not cease their apocalyptic quest to re-establish a globe-spanning caliphate. Neither last Tuesday's election, nor a new defense secretary nor an ISG report can alter that reality.
The shift in power on Capitol Hill may, however, have the salutary effect of forcing Bush to focus on what he will leave behind at the end of his term. It is now clear he will not be allowed to make his tax cuts permanent. Regrettably, he's not going to go down in history for repairing Social Security. The economy is strong -- but all that will be forgotten in a decade. Bush's legacy is going to be defined by the outcome of what Rumsfeld called this "little understood" war. Hopefully everyone in Washington now knows that our military wins battles, but that only nations can win wars.
Oliver North is the founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance and author of The Assassins .
Where are we going? Oblivion. No nation can continuously stab its warriors in the back and then expect them to keep answering the summons.
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I don't understand this 'vote against the corruption in Washington' excuse. The Democrats behavior from Reid on down was much more extreme and blatant than anything the Republicans did. The only difference is that the Democrats fought back, loudly, illogically, and continuously. The Republicans punished (over-reacted) their own and did nothing to counter the lies of the media and the Democrats. No one the Republican/Conservative side will acknowledge that - every Republican gaffe gets overblown by both parties, every Democrat crime gets ignored or alibied (think Jefferson's $90K) by both parties. It's not called "The Stupid Party" for nothing.
Will congress formally declare war now? Or will Pelosi bring in the United Nations and lose the war. Will the media continue to deride those that want a victory? The media had a big hand in demoralizing the country and our military in this election. The only hope is to fax letters to the elected no matter where they stand, as to how you feel about winning or losing in Iraq and the WOT.
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After we ABANDONED the then Free People of South Vietnam after our 1974 Democrat landslide Congressional Elections came...
Pictures of a vietnamese Re-Education Camp
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308949/posts
After this year's 2006 Democrat landslide Congressional Elections the question now is...
Quo Vadis, Iraq..?
Quo Vadis, USA..?
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"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Good article. I think the only thing that's going to happen in terms of Iraq is that it will fade from the headlines now; or at any rate, the negative coverage will drop off, since the Dems achieved what they wanted and they know there's only so far they can go now. This could be good.
The Dems don't have a plan and, in any case, regardless of Congress, Bush is still CIC.
As for the Bush Whitehouse being bogged down by Congress, it's been bogged down for the last six years, and under constant harrassment from subpoenas, etc. - and we theoretically had a GOP majority. So I'd say not a lot is going to change there.
The corruption lies in the earmarks, I think. The congress came to think that they could buy reelection with pork. Then they lost touch with voters. I know I don't give a fig about pork.
Friends say Webb can seem a little
defensive when he launches into a long explanation of why he lost the
Academy boxing championship to a fellow midshipman, a mauler named Oliver
North, back in 1967.
btt 4 l8r
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