Today,
Tony Snow told us why we should stay the course:
Now, when the United States walked away, in the opinion of Osama bin Laden in 1991, bin Laden drew from that the conclusion that Americans were weak and wouldn't stay the course, and that led to September 11th.
That's right--because if you don't stay the course in Iraq now, then bin Laden will think that we're weak again, just like--according to Tony Snow--George H. W. Bush was weak in 1991, and we'll have another 9/11. That is to say, stay the course, or the terrorists have already won. Now since when did America let a terrorist dictate our foreign policy?
Since 9/11, apparently. 9/11 changed everything--now instead of having George W. Bush leading us as commander-in-chief to stay the course, we have the shadow of Osama bin Laden--fear itself--telling us that we must stay the course in Iraq or be attacked!
Ken Mehlman explained this further on Hardball, mentioning that after five months in Beirut, in 1984, Reagan cut and ran, as it were, and that emboldened bin Laden, eventually leading to 9/11. If Reagan had only known then what we know now, he could have appeased bin Laden by staying the course in Beirut then! But he didn't know, and thus, Reagan didn't let bin Laden dictate his foreign policy. Unlike George W. Bush.
So there you have it, straight from two horse's mouths: because George H. W. Bush and Ronald W. Reagan cut and ran from the Middle East and didn't let terrorists dictate our foreign policy, we had 9/11. Now that George W. Bush is letting a terrorist dictating our foreign policy and we have a disaster in the Middle East, that policy of appeasement, of giving the terrorists what they want (chaos), will somehow prevent 9/11.
And this is why these clowns think we should elect them again.