Declare Victory And Leave : Helen Thomas

[jbfam4]

Declare Victory And Leave
Administration Claims Killing Leads To Peace

POSTED: 3:23 pm CST December 3, 2004

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/3970162/detail.html


The same rationale is being invoked by a U.S. officialdom that insists we have to stay in Iraq to fight the resistance there. Even those opposed to the war now say we can't leave because a catastrophe would ensue if we were to depart.
Casualty figures continue to rise, but the administration that committed the United States to this senseless folly is content to let others pay the price. More than 1,200 Americans have died, thousands more have been wounded. Thousands of Iraqis -- fighters and civilians -- have been killed.

It's beyond the courage of the American leadership to admit it was wrong to invade a country under false pretenses and to stay there by force. But at some point, the U.S. leadership may have to 'fess up. This may come when, as veteran war correspondent Chris Hedges put it, "The reality of war is so revolting and horrifying that if we did see war it would be hard for us to wage it."
McClellan did the best he could to create a facade of international support, which doesn't exist in the real world, for the U.S. occupation.

The United States did not invade Iraq out of some great humanitarian compassion to protect the Iraqi people, nor did the administration defend the invasion on those grounds early on. (Remember how Iraq was an imminent threat with weapons of mass destruction targeted to destroy us?) Nor did the Iraqis ask for us to save them from Saddam.

Sorry, McClellan can't rewrite history with his pitch that the international community is behind the United States in Iraq. The major European allies -- except for Britain -- have shied away from this misadventure. Ukraine's parliament voted 257-0 this week to pull the country's 1,600 troops out of Iraq. The vote was non-binding but symbolic of the reality that the Bush administration tries to ignore when it describes the "coalition" that occupies Iraq.

To those who warn that it would be inhumane and wrong to leave Iraq soon, I ask: What's so humane about sticking around and killing again and again?

(Helen Thomas can be reached at the e-mail address [e-mail]).

[NMDemDist2]

1. she is still the best there is... n/t

[goclark]

2. We love you Helen!!!!

They need to move up the phony elections and do like we did in Amerika, declare their crook the winner and bring our troops home.

Go Helen!

[noiretextatique]

3. stop making sense, helen

it is not allowed in bush's america.

[Poppyseedman]

4. Can't disagree with Helen

It was a mistake to go in, but it would be a bigger mistake at this point in time to pull out.

There will be way too much bloodshed in the power vacuum it will create.

Civil war will probably break out and Iran will consolidate power though the Shiite clergy and slaughter the Sunni's.

Elections are near, let them pick a new leader, give them a few months to get on their feet and get the hell out.

After that, civil war still may break out, but at least we didn't leave them hanging.

I disagree with the war, but as Americans we need to show the world we can't be cowered.

That is sending the wrong message to the terrorist, if we leave now.

Those people don't understand negotiations. They will view it as a victory.

[OETKB]

6. Give me a break!

We were wrong. Let's just be grown up, admit it, and get out. We have nothing to gain in the world's eyes by staying or else they would be by our side. Maybe they would even think better of us if we just 'fessed up. We keep getting into trouble because the message to the next policy makers is not strong enough. They keep on thinking they can try it again. The blood will be on our hands, but that is the burden we must squarely deal with, and hopefully we will be given a chance to redeem ourselves in the future. Staying in Iraq now only prolongs suffering.

[Demeter]

5. Bush Has NO INTENTION Of Leaving!!

That's not the name of this game. To build an empire, to conquer, one occupies and stays, until there is no other country.

To get America out of Iraq, you have to get Bushco out of power. To get Bushco out of power, we need to work harder, smarter, and educate people about the crimes perpetrated in their name by this de facto coup. Either that, or some other coalition of countries will have to repeat WWII and invade the US and de-Nazify it.

[goclark]

7. MARCH and force him to leave

Every documentary about the Vietnam War showed how much the protesters affected the President's people.

If we sit back and just grumble they will do nothing and stay there.

The Anti - War movement must be out in full force, in every city,in one day.

My dream would be for every city to connect with the next city with a solid line of people lined up together all over the country.

It would be a HUMANITY CHAIN TO STOP THE WAR.

We can't just march, we must march in such a way that the media must see it and report it.