By now I'm sure most of you have seen the email that made the national rounds in the last year that showed who among national leaders and pundits had actually served in the military. Naturally, the vast majority of those doing the most cheerleading for Bush's war of choice in Iraq had never served a day in the military, much less seen combat. Just as predictably, those on the Democratic side and speaking out against the war--and the way it has been fought--included a large preponderance of veterans.
I have watched with interest in recent weeks as Congressional and White House republicans desperately try to repair public confidence in their failed Iraq policies by endlessly repeating the worn out phrase "cut and run." What they don't seem to understand is that their policies and decisions have real word repercussions that affect real lives of real Americans.
I don't like the way the word "coward" has come to be used in recent years, but I can't think of a better word for a person who refused to serve when he or she had the chance, and now presumes to lecture those who did serve about courage and their feelings about this war. Do you hear me Karl Rove and Ann Coulter?
The inescapable truth about the Iraq War is that the Bush Administration has badly bungled its execution and has over-ruled the Pentagon and the Generals in foisting Don Rumsfeld's arrogance and incompetence on military commanders in the field. They don't have enough troops. They don't have the right equipment. And as a result, three years into the war, we are no further along than we were at the start.
Over 2500 Americans have now given their lives for a plan that is not working! Tens of thousands more have been seriously wounded, and millions have done at least one tour away from home and family. At what point do those who support this war admit that "stay the course" is nothing more than Einstein's definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results!
We need serious people who will have serious discussions about serious solutions and policies for the future in Iraq. John Murtha's redeployment plan is not a "cut and run" plan, and only a coward would call it that! Yes, you read that correctly and I stand by it!
It takes real courage to admit a mistake and embark on a new course, courage that Bush and Congressional republicans apparently don't have! Real American lives are being lost and destroyed and we deserve better than empty platitudes about achieving victory.
What we need, and what we won't get until 2009, is real leadership from the White House. We need the President to stand up and say to the world, "I was wrong and we need your help!" We need him to build a real coalition, the kind his father built when I was on active duty and we put 500,000 troops on the ground in Kuwait, a large part of them from countries other than the United States.
The insurgency is fueled by our presence. Iraqi's believe we are invaders, not liberators, because we haven't given them reason to believe otherwise. We plan to stay indefinitely. We have no plan to turn over power to them. We have NOT rebuilt the infrastructure. In most of Iraq you are lucky to get 8 hours of electricity a day, have running water, and in the country sitting on the second largest oil reserve in the world, you can't get gas at the corner station!
What have George W. Bush and the Congressional Republicans DONE with over 300 BILLION dollars and over 2500 American lives? Folks, it's time for a change. It's time to take back America and put adults back in charge!
I believe we need a new Iraq policy. I'll stand proudly in Congress with John Murtha to support redeployment. I'll tell the President that I won't vote for one more dime until he gives me two things: a definition of victory, and a plan for getting there.
And god help the person who says I lack courage or I'm supporting a "cut and run" policy or I don't support the troops. I AM the troops, and it's the troops and their sacrifices that deeply concern me. It sure is easy for people who sleep safe in their beds here in America, and who won't go themselves or send their own children--it sure is easy for them to say "stay the course." I suspect if they had to go, or if it was their children dying in Iraq, they might sing a different tune!
So when I hear someone say that a revised Iraq strategy is a "cut and run" strategy, I feel pretty confident I'm hearing from a coward who is willing to send people like me to die, but who won't go put their own life at risk!
Bill Winter
http://winterforcongress.com/
Cross posted to MyDD at http://www.mydd.com/...