A Democratic strategy for Iraq--Gene Lyons' interesting conclusion....

[Gloria]

A Democratic strategy for Iraq
Gene Lyons

Posted on Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Don’t hold your breath, but Democrats may be showing signs of life in
the national debate over Iraq. For most of three years, including Sen.
John Kerry’s presidential campaign, party leaders have appeared fearful
of challenging George W. Bush’s belligerent bungling. They haven’t
wanted voters to mistake them for George McGovern, the World War II
bomber pilot and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate who made the
mistake of being right about Vietnam too soon. Now that may be changing.

As recently as July, the party establishment worried that Americans
couldn’t be trusted to make elementary distinctions. Writing in the
Democratic Leadership Council’s Blueprint Magazine, Will Marshall opined that while " ntellectually, of course, it’s possible to separate Iraq and the war on terror," Democrats needed to be wary lest voters mistake them for anti-American, hippie pacifists. " s the opposition party," Marshall wrote, "Democrats have a responsibility to hold the White House accountable for the painfully high price we’ve paid in Iraq, the thousands killed and wounded, and the billions of dollars spent. But they must do so in a way that makes it clear they are rooting for America to succeed in Iraq."

Marshall urged the party to heed the example of Sens. Joe Biden, John
Kerry, Evan Bayh and Hillary Rodham Clinton, "who have set an example
for responsible, progressive patriotism."

Rooting for America to succeed in Iraq? As in rooting for the Chicago
Cubs to win the National League Central? The bitter truth is that we’re
far beyond that. ....

SNIP

Meanwhile, most Democrats agree with the question put by former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart in a recent Washington Post column: " hat will history say about an opposition party that stands silent while all this goes on?" Many have begun to despair of leadership from the aforementioned U.S. senators, all of whom voted in favor of giving Bush a blank check to do as he pleased on Iraq back in October 2002 and can’t seem to admit they were bamboozled.

But there’s at least one name-brand Democrat who wasn’t obliged to vote
in 2002, and whose patriotism is hard to question: retired Gen. Wesley
Clark. Maybe that’s why the former NATO supreme commander and neophyte
2004 presidential candidate has taken the lead.


MORE

http://www.nwanews.com/story.php?paper=adg§ion=Editorial&storyid=127033

[Totally Committed]

1. Go, Gene Lyons!

"Beginning with a trenchant column in The Washington Post and a subsequent appearance on NBC News’ "Meet the Press," Clark has begun a calculated assault on the Bush administration’s Iraq policy from the right and left simultaneously. "More than half the American people now believe that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake," Clark writes. "They’re right. But it would also be a mistake to pull out now, or to start pulling out or to set a date certain for pulling out. Instead, we need a strategy to create a stable, democratizing and peaceful state in Iraq—a strategy the administration has failed to develop and articulate."

Clark lays down what he calls "a threepronged strategy: diplomatic, political and military" to deal with the realities the Bush administration ignored in its half-baked belief that American invaders would be greeted by flower-throwing throngs. Almost none, frankly, has any likelihood of being enacted. Hire 10,000 Arab-American translators? Convene a regional security council to hash things out with Iraq’s neighbors, i. e., Iran, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, etc.? Not gonna happen. And then? "If the administration won’t adopt a winning strategy," Clark writes, "then the American people will be justified in demanding that it bring our troops home." He doesn’t pretend that would be a good thing. Asked about the consequences of retreat in an online forum, Clark concedes that " n exit that leaves behind violence, chaos and civil war will be viewed as a clear American defeat. And it will supercharge terrorist recruiting, increase problems for American diplomacy... and increase the danger closer to home." Clark only implies that retreat could end up being the least bad option."

http://www.nwanews.com/story.php?paper=adg§ion=Editorial&storyid=127033

:thumbsup:

TC

[Gloria]

2. Shameless kick

[Totally Committed]

3. They say you can judge a man by his enemies. If that is so,

I hear from reliable sources that Rush Limbaugh has been absolutely savaging Wes since his MTP appearance.

If I wasn't already such a huge Wes fan, a fact like that could make me one, for sure!

Limbaugh can just bite me. (I've had my shots! LOL!)

TC