Building the case on Iraq

Looking to the next showdown, Democrats need to be working hard on the American people to convince more and more of them not just that we are losing it, or that a lot of soldiers are dying, or that it’s getting worse, but that the Bush-Cheney policy is fundamentally wrong and not in the best interests of the country. Here’s one 5-minute speech -- with a few rhetorical nuggets highlighted.

IRAQ IS IN A CIVIL WAR, AND WE NEED TO ADJUST OUR STRATEGY TO THAT REALITY. That is the essential fact Americans must understand. George Bush and Dick Cheney did not anticipate this civil war, because they did not know what they were doing when they started this war.

So what do we do with this mess now that doesn't just mean allowing Bush and Cheney to dump the problem in the lap of the next President? It’s simply a lie to say we are fighting “al Qaeda” there, when virtually all the people attacking us are Sunni or Shia Iraqis who think they are fighting our occupation of their land. It’s a lie to say this war has anything whatsoever to do with the “war on terror.” It never did because Saddam hated al Qaeda and bin Laden, and so do the Sunni tribal leaders in the center and West, the Shias in the South, and most of the Kurds in the North. It doesn’t help in the war on terror now, either, because all Bush’s Iraq Adventure is doing is making opposition to the United States grow throughout the Middle East and radicalizing it even further.

Republicans defending their absurd Iraq policy are good at the middle school taunts game, equating an intelligent strategic move with “surrender.” THERE IS NO “SURRENDER” HERE BECAUSE BUSH AND CHENEY CANNOT EVEN DESCRIBE WHAT IT WOULD MEAN TO WIN, or when that might happen. Tony Blair was asked that the other day what “victory” means, and he could not answer it – but only made the absurd statement that even if he could not say what winning is, it would bad to lose – at whatever it is we are supposed to win, and he'll have to get back to us on that. And 600 or 700 American soldiers are dying or wounded every month for that? THE ONLY “SURRENDER” HERE IS REPUBLICANS WHO REALLY KNOW HOW MUCH DAMAGE THIS WAR IS DOING TO THE COUNTRY. THEY ARE AFRAID NOT TO GIVE REFLEXIVE SUPPORT TO GEORGE BUSH AND DICK CHENEY. But they need to explain how sticking them in a shooting gallery “supporting the troops.”

Re-deploying our troops in the region from the middle of a civil war they cannot possibly “win” does not mean we do not need to continue maintaining a strong presence in the Middle East. We need to for several reasons – to be ready and able to go after the real terrorists wherever they are. We need to be able to go on the offensive again. BY SUCKING UP HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS IN RESOURCES AND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF OUR SOLDIERS, AND ALIENATING SO MUCH OF THE WORLD, GEORGE BUSH’S IRAQ ADVENTURE HAS PUT US ON THE DEFENSIVE. Yes, we need to be ready to help Middle Eastern countries protect oil production critical to a world economy that feeds billions of people; we need to support an ally in the region that has been under constant threat for 60 years, even as we resume real efforts to bring genuine peace for that country and its neighbors. Our strong presence in the region will tend to discourage the most violent solutions to grievances. BUT WE MUST FINALLY RECOGNIZE THAT FORCING OUR FORM OF DEMOCRACY BY THE BARREL OF A GUN DOES NOT AND NEVER WILL WORK. THIS IS THE ESSENTIAL FAILURE OF THE BUSH-CHENEY FOREIGN POLICY. But with a foreign policy controlled by brains instead of the need for Republicans to prove how tough they are, we will welcome and be supportive of peaceful efforts to bring wider use of democratic forms of government to the region.

As much as we hear how it will all descend into chaos when we leave, THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF IRAQIS WANT US TO LEAVE. THERE IS CHAOS NOW, AND THE IRAQI PEOPLE BELIEVE OUR OCCUPATION MAKES IT WORSE. Most actually believe the violence will go down when for all their differences Iraqis can finally fend for themselves. So if we are supposed to be protecting Iraqis from each other, WHY ARE WE NOT DOING WHAT THE IRAQI PEOPLE WANT? GOOD QUESTION. We barely know their language, much less their history and culture. MAYBE IRAQIS KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THEIR OWN COUNTRY THAT WE DON’T.

George Bush’s so-called “surge” is what they call putting lipstick on a pig. It's just "stay the course" with more people getting killed. It’s time for the grown-ups to take charge for a real change of course.