Democrats on Iraq and National Security
29 March 2006 11:51 am by Taylor Marsh
Democrats on Iraq and National Security
In a (perhaps) historic shift,
more Americans now consider themselves Democrats than Republicans, the Gallup
organization revealed today. – Editors
& Publishers (via Americablog)
 |
| BUSH LOST IRAQ. Democrats will change course. |
With Bush and the Republicans controlling Congress, Democrats
can only offer ideas, a pledge and a plan. They've done it today. CNN had Harry
Reid for a few fleeting moments, with Fox having on Wesley Clark to talk about
the plan. Clark was good. MSNBC is nowhere on it.
We all know what Bush and the Republicans in Congress have done.
Let the Iraqis string the U.S. and our troops out so that we are now in the
middle of a civil war. Bush's rhetoric continued today, with more of his this is hard
work rhetoric. It's obviously too hard a job for Republicans because they're
letting the Iraqi government walk us around by the nose, while militias in the
Iraqi National Police are on a death squad spree.
There's another problem, which is that you can't say form a government
one minute, then tell the American people that the next president will deal
with full withdrawal from Iraq. Bush and the Republicans have done just that
by not demanding the Iraqi government get its act together or deal with the
consequences. What is the Republicans' response to this inaction? SILENCE.
Democrats believe political pressure must be made to bear on the
Iraqis to form a government, with redeployment in 2006 a strategic element of
the plan.
Again, just last week, for instance, Bush said we'd be in Iraq
until 2009, sending a horrific message to the Iraqis. Months after voting, Bush
and the Republicans still have not been able to get the Iraqis to form a government.
Bush is too weak to get the Iraqis to move.
It's time for Democrats to be given that chance. The Democrats
“Real Security” plan highlights:
Ensure 2006 is a year of significant transition
to full Iraqi sovereignty, with the Iraqis assuming primary responsibility
for securing and governing their country and with the responsible redeployment
of U.S. forces.Insist that Iraqis make the political
compromises necessary to unite their country and defeat the insurgency; promote
regional diplomacy; and strongly encourage our allies and other nations to
play a constructive role.Hold the Bush administration accountable
for its manipulated pre-war intelligence, poor planning and contracting abuses
that have placed our troops at greater risk and wasted billions of dollars.
Some other points of the national security plan are as follows:
Rebuild a state-of-the-art military by making the needed
investments in equipment and manpower so that we can project power to protect
America wherever and whenever necessary.Guarantee that our troops have the protective gear,
equipment, and training they need and are never sent to war without accurate
intelligence and a strategy for success.Enact a GI Bill of Rights for the 21st Century that
guarantees our troops — active, reserve, and retired — our veterans, and
their families receive the pay, health care, mental health service, and other
benefits they have earned and deserve.Strengthen the National Guard, in partnership with
the nation's Governors, to ensure it is fully manned, equipped and available
to meet missions at home and abroad.Eliminate Osama Bin Laden, destroy terrorist networks
like al Qaeda, finish the job in Afghanistan, and end the threat posed by
the Taliban.Double the size of our Special Forces, increase our
human intelligence capabilities, and ensure our intelligence is free from
political pressure.Eliminate terrorist breeding grounds by combating the
economic, social, and political conditions that allow extremism to thrive;
lead international efforts to uphold and defend human rights; and renew longstanding
alliances that have advanced our national security objectives.Secure by 2010 loose nuclear materials that terrorists
could use to build nuclear weapons or “dirty bombs.”Redouble efforts to stop nuclear weapons development
in Iraq and North Korea.
More people align themselves with Democrats, and Iraq and the
Republican collapse on national security are reasons why. Michael
Ware gives us more in an interview with radioblogger, but the bottom line is national security, starting with Iraq. That's why today's Democratic plan is an important rallying point. But we'll obviously have to see where it leads.
(Michael Ware): Okay,
I don't think there was any choice whatsoever about Afghanistan. It simply had
to be done. You could not allow an organization that had reached out and attacked
Western interests like that to sit in its safe haven. Even if it could not be
destroyed, and let's face it. Al Qaeda has not been destroyed, and some could
argue it's morphed and evolved and changed, and in some ways, is stronger, and
in some ways, is weaker. It could not continue to have that sanctuary. It had
to be ousted. It had to have pressure put on it. And that's been done. But let's
look at Iraq. Iraq is an entirely different kettle of fish. From the reasons
publicly stated and privately expressed for the removal of this regime, to the
manor of the planning, and then that execution itself. All of them, I believe,
went awry, or were poorly done, the consequences of which we are now living
with, three years down the track into this war, with more than 2,300 American
men and women who have been killed here in uniform, with what? $250 billion
dollars. At the end of the day, what do we have? We have the shakiest
of governments here, which is more aligned to our stated enemy of the United
States, a member of the axis of evil, than it is with the American forces who
liberated them. So Iran has actually become stronger as a result of this invastion.
Who else has become stronger? Well, al Qaeda. It's got a whole new branch here
in Iraq it never had, hundreds if not thousands of new members it never had,
and Zarqawi, who was a nobody in Afghanistan, is now the superstar of international
jihad, and that's been acknowledged by the administration when they
put a $25 million dollar price tage on his head, the same as Osama. The Iraq
war stands markedly different to Afghanistan.
