We all know that Bush and Cheney will do and say anything to score cheap political points but their latest talking points on Iraq contradict what our troops on the ground are saying. Two examples follow.
As recently as
August 29, President Bush said that John Kerry was using "upside-down logic" when he suggested that the administration's prosecution of the war on terror was leading to an increase in terrorist recruitment. In his own defense Bush argued
"You don't create terrorists by fighting back. You defeat the terrorists by fighting back."
Bush should tell this to U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli. In an AP story picked up by Army Times, Maj. Chiarelli discusses a change in the arrest techniques used by the army to detain Iraqis. No longer will detainees be blindfolded or handcuffed in front of their families or treated in any way that might be seen as a sign of disrespect. Why? According to Maj. Chiarelli
"You've got to see it from a force protection standpoint: You're making more enemies," U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli told The Associated Press. "When we mistreat one person I've got a net increase of nine enemies."
Hmmmm, nine new enemies for every arrest from the beginning of the invasion to the change in policy this week ... you do the math.
This is very similar to Cheney's rip on Kerry's use of the word sensitive in relation to the war on terror. A few days after Cheney launched this attack, repeated in his convention speech, CNNs Bill Hemmer interviewed Lieutenant Colonel Myles Miyamasu, an Army battalion commander based in Najaf:
HEMMER: With the holy shrine being so sensitive to the Shiite population, how does that change your approach and your strategy in this conflict?
MIYAMASU: I think it's been beat into our heads that there are significant cultural and religious sites and traditions here in Iraq that we are very, very sensitive to, to the point where I think in a way it plays on our emotions as we conduct operations against some of the Iraqis or the Mehdi Army near these locations. Having said that, you know, we're here to defeat the Mehdi militia and we're going to go wherever they go. And we will do everything in our power to limit or ensure that there is no damage to the cultural and religious sites. But our job is to destroy the Mehdi militia. ... [emphasis added]
So is Bush so out of touch with his commanders on the ground that he doesn't know the consequences of military policy?
Is Cheney deliberately trying to mess with Miyamusu's head by saying that sensitivity is for pussies?