What the Congress Can Do for America

Our priorities begin with defeating the terrorists who killed thousands of innocent Americans on September 11, 2001--and who are working hard to attack us again. These terrorists are part of a broader extremist movement that is now doing everything it can to defeat us in Iraq.

In the days ahead, I will be addressing our nation about a new strategy to help the Iraqi people gain control of the security situation and hasten the day when the Iraqi government gains full control over its affairs. Ultimately, Iraqis must resolve the most pressing issues facing them. We can't do it for them.

But we can help Iraq defeat the extremists inside and outside of Iraq--and we can help provide the necessary breathing space for this young government to meet its responsibilities. If democracy fails and the extremists prevail in Iraq, America's enemies will be stronger, more lethal, and emboldened by our defeat. Leaders in both parties understand the stakes in this struggle. We now have the opportunity to build a bipartisan consensus to fight and win the war.

That's right. Dubya violated all of Caspar Weinbergers rules for going to war: A vital national objective, an attainable, measurable military objective; a clear exit strategy; the support of the American people; and the force to win quickly. When you do that, generally you lose. Dubya can't win. Either he persuades his successor to commit more than half of U.S. ground forces presumably forever, and spends $100B, 850 KIA and 6,500 WIA annually; or we withdraw. Four years after going in, why should the U.S. sustain one-third of the casualties? Is Iraq the 51st state, or is it a sovereign country?

"I agree."

The President has good intentions with this "Democracy in the Middle East", but it's far too Wilsonian to ever work in practice. Perhaps if everyone at State was fired first.... ;)

You can't have what we would consider "liberty" in a "democracy" that has a constitution that places Islam as the highest law. That will fail completely. It always has. The only way Turkey has remained moderately "free" is the rigorous application of a legal coup whenever a mullah comes to power. Kemalism, I believe they call it. We're far to PC to contemplate that.

My beliefs exactly.

I cut Dubya slack because he was my guy. Let's be frank. He won the support of Congress, the American people and me for the invasion of Iraq because he told us Saddam was close to possessing nuclear weapons, that he had massive chemical and biological stocks in any event and that removing him was preferable to the status quo. And I believed him on trust. When there was no nuclear program and niminal chemical and biological stockpiles, he rolled out the democracy justification. Like a lot of Americans, I continued to support him because the press reported he believed he could withdraw U.S. troops quickly. Unfortunately, Dubya wasn't succesful. The American people will venerate a Lexington, an Alamo, a Bataan. What they won't support is a steady diet of not winning. As I've repeated ad nauseum is that Iraq is not a nation-state: The Shiite and Jurdish majority want no part of an Iraqi state. Even though our troops have performed brilliantly, the people don't want what we're trying to peddle. A democratic Kurdistan? Perhaps. A democratic Shiite south? No. As we both know, Islam is both a political and religious movement. The essence is submission to Allah. The Koran and Haddith leave no place for democracy. Where do we go from here? Getting out of the Sunni triangle and Shiite south leaving as favorable a situation elsewhere as possible. Give the government a deadline, switch to a training mission, try to broker the partition of the country and to share oil revenues, and withdraw to Iraqi Kurdistan and Kuwait. Get Iraq behind us and focus on the strategies that are working -- building opposition to the terrorists, cutting off their financial support, killing their leaders and technical support network, and training people who will oppose them. The recent Ethiopian invasion of Somalia is a perfect example.

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