Sep 13 2006
Dems Boxed In
This by Michael Goodwin says better what I was trying to say about Bush’s speech this week:
Most political insiders thought he would try to dance around Iraq in a bid to save congressional Republicans and his own policies. With the war increasingly unpopular, some even predicted Bush would declare victory and start withdrawing troops before November.
…
Having already bet his presidency and his legacy on the war, he passed up a final chance to hedge.
“Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out, the terrorists would leave us alone. They will not leave us alone. They will follow us. The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad,” he said.
If that wasn’t clear enough, he added: “This struggle has been called a clash of civilizations. In truth, it is a struggle for civilization.”
This is part of the box the dems set themselves up with. No wonder they felt it was a partisan speech, Bush decidedly did not bow to their desires. This is what Bush has said from day one, and reflecting on our generation’s Pearl Harbor and where it has taken us is not partisan – it is inconvenient to the Democrats’ election plans. Well so sad, too bad for the Dems. After months of claiming the war on terror was all hype used to scare people into voting Republican and stealing our liberties (which, I for one, have not seen a single personal liberty lost – including some new victims’ lives), the Dems are in a terrible place. They tried to emphasize the fact Bush was overblowing the threat by exposing key anti-terrorism programs and claiming these were being used against innocent Americans. The left and Dems claimed it was OK to expose these programs because the war was all hype five years out.
As Goodwin points out the President’s speech was just one part of the problem for the Dems. The other part is the fact Al Qaeda is for real and is a danger and is trying to kill us. I thought the foiled UK Bomb Plot was the pivot point when the branch was sawed out from under the left’s irresponsible and reckless claims. But it seems Al Qaeda’s thirst for the headlines meant more trouble for the Dems plans to claim the war is all Rep exaggeration:
Even as Bush was quoting Bin Laden as calling Iraq “the Third World War,” Bin Laden’s deputy released a video promising attacks against the U.S. and Israel. “The days are pregnant and giving birth to new events,” Ayman al-Zawahiri vowed. He said our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are “doomed to defeat” and that we would be driven out of the Middle East.
His threats are like a sharp stick in the eye, especially for Democrats. Look at the scrambled dynamics this way: If Bush and Bin Laden agree that Iraq is a key front, can Democrats really argue it’s not? Can their candidates for Congress still tell voters it’s okay to pull out of Iraq? Do they even believe it themselves?
They can and they will. They are stuck. The Democrats are now either dangerously foolish because they tried to spin a serious issue and have only crippled our defenses, or they are dangerously naive because they cannot see beyond their Bush Derangement Syndrome and see when their partisan obsessions take them into dangerous waters. Either way, the left and the Dems now represent a risk to our country because they have proven to not be up to the job of protecting it. A risk that can be simply avoided by not letting them run the country right now. Maybe they will figure it out in 2008. I doubt it, but at least they get a chance to do better. In national security we don’t get second chances.
UpdateHere is one example of how the box is working on the Dems. It will be a death of a thousand cuts if this continues this way. Whining about how bad your position looks does not give anyone the impression you can stand up to Al Qaeda. For example, check out this < ahref="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/us/politics/13capital.html?ref=politics">Schumer response:
“Given the basic environment is in our direction, you have to stand up to them every time and show strength and that you are not afraid of them,†said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Was Schumer talking about our enemies? No, he was talking about Reps. The Dems are the ones who have lost the focus. To them the enemy is the GOP. The rest of us know GOP leadership has kept this country safe. The Dems are imploding in a burst of BDS-driven illogical claims.
The dems complaign when they shouldn’t , they have chosen their path and their message and painted their own image of what they are.
Lesson learned from the civil war, don’t gather yer troops into tight circles when ya know the other guys are firing cannon loads of grapeshot.
Lesson learned from the civil war
Well, I figured you were older than I am, Merlin, but I didn’t figure you were THAT old, heh.
Great post, AJ. Can’t add anything to it, just agree with what you said.
You pinned down what has sent them over the edge this week…
Bush did not hedge.
They will not leave us alone. They will follow us. The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad,†he said.
I thought this was the most important thing he said. Our media functioning on behalf of the DNC and the UN have sold the people a lie. They are told that we created the terrorists and the best we can do is just try to correct that mistake.
Bush needs to explain that if we killed everyone that claims AQ membership…killing everyone connected to 9/11 will not cure our problems. This is the disconnect that Dems and media have exploited. Maybe it was just considered too scary to tell…..I don’t know…..but it is long past time to lay it out. It could be that another reason he has not……..it is almost impossible to explain and still participate in the UN.
Good article, as usual.
One angle, however, that the Democrats are pushing is that we aren’t protecting our country in all of these other ways. If we get hit in another way… then they will say, “I told you so”. And, people don’t get the more subtle issue of Iraq… how you do not walk away from terrorists. They tend to not get that kind of thing, anyway. But, when there is an attack on something the Democrats have complained about is not well guarded… people get that.
That said, we are, obviously, fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq. We are killing Islamists there. That is a front on the war of terrorism and no one can deny that.
I have some Arab and Persian friends who are uncomfortable because of this. They sense this is a war against Islamists. They are concerned it may be a war against Arabs and Persians. No doubt many are truly concerned it may be a war against Islam. (I would argue, ultimately, it is a war against Islam… but it only the religious Islamists whom we need war with, obviously. Islam is a bit like grasshoppers… normally they do no harm… but under the right conditions they can swarm and become locusts…)
Anyway, what I am saying is we all know, on some level, that what we are doing in Iraq is a big part of the war against Islamists… Islamo-Fascists. And we know that this is so deeply true:
“This struggle has been called a clash of civilizations. In truth, it is a struggle for civilization.â€
I think, then, this really does leave out the Democrats who truly hate America. I hope that is not the majority. I do not believe that is the majority. Because those who hate America hate civilization. They are not playing to win.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese304.html
You gentlemen have “slipped your moorings” exactly as Conservative
columnist Charley Reece says your “dear leader” has in the above link just published today.
“Death by a thousand cuts, ” AJ? Sounds like what the US troops are
getting in Iraq. As a matter of fact, it is plausible Al Qaeda and assorted jihadists want America to STAY in Iraq and bleed , economically and literally, slowly, like the proverbial frog in the slowly boiling water who doesn’t jump out and gets cooked.
We know from leaked CIA reports that occupation INCREASES
jihad recruitment worldwide,enough to strengthen the fight against us, both there and eventually here. We also know the
US military is ineffectual in fighting the jihad;Iraqi foreign membership has not been reduced (as promised) despite the killing of
their ruthless Iraq leader.
But will the Democrats really pull out if given the chance? Who
can say, as the hierarchy ignored the rank and file 80% who were opposed to going in in the first place.
That said, we are, obviously, fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq. We are killing Islamists there. That is a front on the war of terrorism and no one can deny that. (emphasis – mine)
Pull, I would disagree. The Dems deny this every day. Many of them even deny the WOT itself. To be honest, I’m not sure myself how much of the Iraqi conflict involves Al Qaeda. I sustect, with al Zarquari’s demise, their strength and influence has waned.
We know from leaked CIA reports that occupation INCREASES
jihad recruitment worldwide….
Ken, with everything we now know, I wouldn’t believe an official CIA report, much less a leaked one.
Ken is naive (to say the least) if he believes some of these leaked CIA reports. Unfortunately, the CIA & State Dept are filled with many career bureaucrats who are decidedly opposed to Bush and have decided to undermine his policies with the help of an eager press. Some of it is Clinton-like in trying to re-write history to cover-up or mis-direct their failures over the last 20 years.
Ken also ignores the fact that the world-wide jihadi islamo fascist movement has been a gethering storm since early 90s, or earlier. Fueled by radical madrasas, emboldened by their violent “successes” and typically weak responses from the West, and supported by the propoganda spewed forth from Arab TV & media, the number of recruits was rising regardless of Iraq. Did Iraq increase these numbers even more? Nobody really knows, but it’s probably nominal. Of course, the biased MSM is going to present it that way.
What the Iraq War did was accelerate or compress the GWOT. It may still go on for as long as 50 years or more, but the major battles are now (Iraq) and in the near-term, unless we lose.
I have been puzzled for years about the depths the democrats are willingly sinking to. It seems they are desperate and will accept any theory to get the republicans out of office. They have blatantly worked against US interests in order to win. Whereas, if the truth be known they might have won one or other of the houses if they had kept their mouths shut. And maybe even the presidency. Are they stupid? Naive? Disconnected to the main body of American people?Or have they formed alliances with other countries in order to get back in power and now see themselves sinking instead of rising? Other countries like France and Russia. Or even China? It wouldn’t be the first time the democrats got cozy with China.