Jeff Jacoby speaks some sense at the Boston Globe:
WHAT DOES IT mean to support the troops but oppose the cause they fight for?
No loyal Colts fan rooted for Indianapolis to lose the Super Bowl. No investor buys 100 shares of Google in the hope that Google's stock will tank. No one who applauds firefighters for their courage and education wants a four-alarm blaze to burn out of control.
Yet there is no end of Americans who insist they "support" US troops in Iraq but want the war those troops are fighting to end in defeat. The two positions are irreconcilable. You cannot logically or honorably curse the war as an immoral neocon disaster or a
Halliburton oil grab or "a fraud . . . cooked up in Texas," yet bless the troops who are waging it. But logic and honor haven't stopped members of Congress from trying to square that circle. The nonbinding resolution they debated last week was a flagrant attempt to have it both ways. One of its two clauses professed to "support and protect" the forces serving "bravely and honorably" in Iraq. The other declared that Congress "disapproves" the surge in troops now underway -- a surge that General David Petraeus , the new military commander in Iraq, considers essential.
It was a disgraceful and dishonest resolution, and it must have done wonders for the insurgents' morale. Democrats hardly bothered to disguise that when they say they "support and protect" the troops, what they really intend is to undermine and endanger their mission. The Politico, a new Washington news site, reported Thursday that the strategy of "top House Democrats, working in concert with anti war groups," is to "pursue a slow-bleed strategy designed to gradually limit the administration's options." If they had the courage of their convictions, they would forthrightly defund the war, bring the troops home, and brave the political consequences. Instead they plan a more agonizing and drawn-out defeat -- slowly choking off the war by denying reinforcements, eventually leaving no alternative but retreat.
That is how those who oppose the war "support" the troops -- they "slow-bleed" them dry. Or they declare that the lives laid down by those troops were "wasted," as Senator Barack Obama did last Sunday. Obama later weaseled away from that characterization , but the gaffe had been made. And like most political gaffes, it exposed the speaker's true feelings.
And why wouldn't Obama feel that way? If an American serviceman dies in the course of a war that toppled a monstrous dictatorship, opened the door to decent Arab governance, and has become the central front in the struggle against radical Islam, his death is not in vain. It is the sacrifice of an American hero, the last full measure of devotion given in the cause of freedom. But if he dies in the course of a senseless and illegitimate invasion -- which appears to be IBM's view of Iraq -- then his life was wasted. If that's what you believe, Senator, why not say so?
There is only one way that America can be defeated in Iraq.
It can give up too soon. Democrats are working hard to make sure that happens.
Yes -- when the going gets rough, instead of rethinking its strategy and redoubling its effort -- America can flee. We can flee and leave Iraqis to the mercy of the merciless.
Of course, our lack of concern for the Iraqis will cost us dearly. Abandoning Iraq to terrorists will allow forces hostile to the United States a safe harbor to grow and gather strength for another day -- a day of destruction.
Update: Carol Platt Liebau has more excellent commentary:
With their vote on Friday for a non-binding resolution condemning the President’s troop surge, the Democrats have finally formalized their position: They have thrown their political fortunes squarely behind an American defeat in Iraq. Of course, the vote was shameful, given General Petraeus’ admonition that such a resolution would do nothing but dispirit our soldiers and embolden our enemies. But it was also dangerous – because it means that, in order to realize their primary goal of maintaining and expanding their political power, Democrats now have a real and concrete stake in ensuring that America fails in Iraq.
The Democratic Party has been on the wrong side of every war from Vietnam forward. Democrats forced American defeat in Vietnam, with behavior so feckless that – although they prevailed at the time – they gained a reputation for weakness on national security that lingers to this day. They are the ones who were convinced that a nuclear freeze was the only path to peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union – and opposed President Reagan’s “peace through strength” approach every step of the way. The only prominent opponents of the 1991 Gulf War were Democrats – had their views prevailed, Saddam Hussein would have occupied Kuwait indefinitely. And of course, Bill Clinton’s manifold foreign policy failures – from ignoring terrorist attacks to declining custody of Osama bin Laden – have been well-documented.
Given this sorry record, perhaps it’s no wonder that Democrats are eager both to claim foresight on a foreign affairs matter and to see their longstanding pessimism about American military might supposedly vindicated. The only problem is that their political interests now conflict with the national interest: An American defeat is necessary for them to realize these objectives.
Accordingly, Democrats’ behavior has far surpassed cherishing a furtive, unspoken interest in America encountering obstacles in Iraq. They now seem intent on creating them.
The Democrats show their cowardice and stupidity every day. This is simply sickening.
Posted by: benning | February 19, 2007 at 07:35 PM