Cards On The Table, Please
By Michael R. Bowen (07/18/03)
I have a simple and direct question for the Democratic Party (not that I expect them to actually answer it): Do you or do you not want America to be successful in Iraq?
More specifically, do you want a stable democracy established there? Do you want permanent eradication of the reign of terror which gripped that unhappy nation? Do you want the guerrilla attacks on our soldiers and Marines to stop, and soon? Do you want our servicemen to return home quickly, and crowned with success? And do you want it to happen no matter who is president?
Don't act shocked. Don't give me that affronted attitude, and don't hide behind complaints that I'm questioning your patriotism. Watching your comments over the last two weeks, any reasonable observer would conclude that those are fair questions.
How else to explain your behavior? Several months before President Bush's State of the Union speech, Congress voted to authorize war with Iraq. Many of your party's leaders, including several current presidential contenders, voted in favor. Yet you accuse President Bush of deceiving you into supporting the war. Have you found a way to make deception retroactive?
Or perhaps you think that the liberation of Iraq was a good thing. You don't really want to undermine our President in a time of crisis, and you really do mean to support our troops. If that's so, why are you calling him a liar? If it's the style of this president -- his "unilateralism", his macho bring-them-on attitude -- and not the substance of his policy in Iraq, why are you invoking Watergate? Why, over a matter of 16 words which are, in fact, true, are you calling into question the entire rationale for the war?
With your antics you give encouragement to those who attack our soldiers. You give them reason to hope that, if they can maintain a steady stream of body bags, support at home will collapse and America will turn tail. Already, nations we have asked to join in rebuilding Iraq, emboldened by your rhetoric, are refusing to help. If we leave, do you really think the vacuum will be filled by something you can be proud of?
Yours is not constructive criticism. It's not contributing to the vigorous debate which democracy requires. Vigorous debate does not consist of screaming "Liar!" The explanation is that you want the White House, whatever it takes, whether or not you have to lie to get it. And if you can't have victory, like the Ba’athist holdouts in Iraq, you will withdraw to the shadows and maintain a steady, debilitating sniping campaign. It just doesn't seem to cross your mind to "turn to with a will", swallow your pride, and work wholeheartedly for what's best for America and Iraq -- no matter who gets the credit.
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