Editorial: The Sum of Our Fears

07/30/2007

Paul Munnis


There are a number of reasons why Democrats want to get out of Iraq and do it pronto.

The first is that many Democrats feel we should not be there in the first place. They feel the war is immoral, wrongly conceived, and that lies were used to justify an invasion. To these Democrats ousting Saddam was not a valid reason for war. They feel that war should be a last resort and that there were still many options open to the U.S. where Iraq was concerned.

Another key concern of Democrats is that Iraq has become a money pit that we keep pouring money down with no results to show. We feel this must end and that a cost of $12 Billion per month for war is not sustainable. Democrats feel the problems are made worse by the rich paying lower taxes, corporations hiding money off-shore to avoid paying taxes, a feeding frenzy of un-bid contractor greed in Iraq with reports of huge government waste and a growing deficit and Federal debt level that is unsustainable.

Of major concern are our troops. We have 160,000 American service people in the Iraq War and more in Afghanistan. They are surrounded by millions of armed Arabs. Should those Arabs turn on us as a group, then extracting those soldiers, and the contractors, and the political refugees, would be a challenge of enormous proportions. In the meantime they would be a shrinking force having to fight their way out and with supply routes diminished and exit routes limited. Our heavy weapons would be of less and less value to us.

In a nutshell Democrats worry about the whole U.S. military being stranded in Iraq and Afghanistan and being totally lost. Perceptions of a Bush Administration that is incompetent at managing a war effort is adding to these concerns. General Petraeus was portrayed as the Lone Ranger who would mount a surge campaign to turn it all around and all signs are that he may himself be thrown out of Iraq by the al Maliki government. Stability cannot be achieved without a functioning Iraqi government, diplomatic successes at supporting the Iraqi war effort, and military peace keeping providing regional stability. None of these exist and all signs are that they will not exist for as far as we can see ahead.

Democrats see no diplomatic successes to support our troops in their mission. All signs are that the U.S. State Department has stopped functioning. We see the effects of bad decisions made by Bush, Chaney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz, and supported by the Bush Administration and the GOP. As we look to the behavior of other Administration officials such as Gonzales what we see is a Presidency locked into a contest of will between the Administration, the American people, and the U.S. Congress. We see an Administration that has gone amuck and is full of scandal, corruption, and bad leadership. This creates no reason to support Mr. Bush, his wars, or the goals that he sets and it encourages the notion of get out while we still can.

What is worse is that hanging over it all is an aura of purposeful lies to the people to support a hidden agenda of stealing Iraqi oil. Americans are a moral people and we do not countenance theft. To top it off the history of torture, abuse, and suspension of American civil liberties, the destruction of running a government by rule of law, these are all convincing Democrats that the Bush Administration is bad for America.

Democrats are not alone in these matters. A majority of Americans of both Parties feel this way and are looking to Congress to manage a solution. None is forthcoming due to a commitment by the GOP members of the U.S. Senate to block all legislation aimed at ending the war and stopping all Democratic legislation. It is buttressed with Bush’s veto power and his determination to brush Congress aside with the use of Executive War Powers.

For these reasons, many Democrats feel that we need to get out of Iraq while we still can and they are sensing that the Iraqi government is collapsing. We observe the increasing instability of our government and we ask if there isn’t a slow closing of the window of opportunity to leave Iraq in particular and the mid-east in general. We think that to be the case.

Americans and Democrats are not happy campers these days as a people and we want change and we want it pronto.