John Edwards does an unusual thing and buys TV time to really confront the president. I think that it is a bold move. I think that it is a move that early primary state Dems can support. His message is simple. Bring the troops home now. Not in a year or five years but now.
Well, it is a start but I’M NOT buying it. We have seen over the past 18 – 24 months Republicans have come out and said the most thoughtful things only to back pedal when the voting starts. Let’s see John Warner has to say when the rubber meets the road. He has talked tough before. We have been down this road.
A new National Intelligence Estimate has come out. It doesn’t say anything that thoughtful progressives haven’t been saying for years. The Republicans want us to believe that we aren’t getting the straight scoop from Iraq. It is hard to know what’s going on. Everything is so confusing. As Tucker said the other day, this is the most difficult war to cover as a journalist in history. Horse-Hockey. The bottom-line is – are Iraqis returning to their country by the thousands? That’s the bottom-line. If Iraqis are still leaving their country by the thousands for whatever reason then problems in Iraq aren’t fixed. It is that simple. They have the real scoop. They know it isn’t safe.
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From NYT:
A stark assessment released Thursday by the nation’s intelligence agencies depicts a paralyzed Iraqi government unable to take advantage of the security gains achieved by the thousands of extra American troops dispatched to the country this year.
The assessment, known as a National Intelligence Estimate, casts strong doubts on the viability of the Bush administration strategy in Iraq. It gives a dim prognosis on the likelihood that Iraqi politicians can heal deep sectarian rifts before next spring, when American military commanders have said that a crunch on available troops will require reducing the United States’ presence in Iraq.
But the report also implicitly criticizes proposals offered by Democrats, including several presidential candidates, who have called for a withdrawal of American combat troops from Iraq by next year and for a major shift in the American approach, from manpower-intensive counterinsurgency operations to lower-profile efforts aimed at supporting Iraqi troops and carrying out quick-strike counterterrorism raids. (more…)
Senator Feingold does have an excellent point. We need a plan to bring the troops home. If there’s no plan, then our soldiers are going to stay and stay. As I have said before, Iraq is a problem that President Bush and the neocons created. It is a huge problem. It is my belief that if we pull out now, Saudi Arabia will invade to protect they Sunni brothers. Iran could not allow that to happen. So they will invade to help the Shea. The Kurds in the North may try to take advantage of the chaos and declare themselves an independent nation which Turkey opposes. Turkey would then get involved. Now, this is a huge regional battle that would pull in other players like Syria.
On the other hand what does staying do if we are stabilizing the country?