I was convinced invading Iraq was the right thing to do at the time. I was pleased he was re-elected in 2004 (although I still don't think Kerry would've been good). But now we all know better and it's clear his "stay the course" (non) policy has cost his party control of Congress (Katrina sure didn't help either).
Nice job, George.
Let's look at the Sweeney-Gillibrand race (which is not my district). Sweeney didn't lose because of allegations of domestic abuse. That may have been the final nail in his coffin, but Gillibrand never should have been in striking distance in the first place. And she wouldn't have been if it weren't for the war.
The war is a mess and it motivated the Democrats like never before. They saw an opportunity and poured money into races that otherwise would have been no contest (like New York's 20th district). George Bush cost Sweeney his seat (although Sweeney certainly didn't help matters). And that was the case all over the country.
Now the Democrats have the House and could still wind up with the Senate. How will things change? Here's an excerpt from today's editorial in The Daily News...
The people's sentiment is crystal-clear on the war. They simply want out of the conflict - if there is a way to get out. But there isn't...
...But the bring-the-troops-home-now bunch has largely been marginalized; reasonable souls understand full well that this war, however disagreeable it is - and it sure is - cannot just be walked away from. For now, the anti-war fervor of this newly reconstituted Congress runs smack into the ugly reality that giving up the fight in Iraq will leave behind only catastrophe.
Which means soldiering on with a President, now decidedly lacking in political capital, while hoping for the best.
I'm sure there will be much flaming in comments. So let 'em rip, you guys...
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Would we be out of Iraq with Kerry by now? We will never know. Nor, will we know if we did get out of Iraq if the future of Iraq would be any different (I think either way Iraq is going to break up). However, I am sure that Kerry would have tried much harder to get us out of Iraq than Bush did in the past two years. I guess Bush was to busy using all that "polical capital" from the 2004 election getting Democarts elected in 2006 :)
Marc
I remember taking a class in high school that was devoted to the Vietnam war. My father and I (both of us very much against the invasion) drew comparisons when we invaded Iraq and everybody laughed at us. History has repeated once again. This is another vietnam. The only difference is that new medical technology has kept the body count down. It's scarry how people don't want to admit that this is another Vietnam.
Do we pull out now??? Yes...because If we don't, after more people die we will pull out anyway. We will not win Iraq. Get out now!!
I agree with your crisp summary, Roon. The rational underlaying Bush administration actions was to jump-start change in Middle East politics towards systems having far less discontinuity with how the rest of the world is progressing - a discontinuity that, left to grow, will result in only more violence and dispair. It wasn't about oil, or cultural imperialism, or reviving the military-industrial complex, or making hot new markets for iPods. But Iraq turned out to be adventurism in the best tradition of the British in Mesopotamia - which is how the ill-conceived modern state of Iraq was formed in the first place.
Which brings me to Aaron's comment: Perhaps people don't admit America in Iraq is another Vietnam precisely because it isn't Vietnam. Read your Southeast Asia and Middle East histories again, Aaron.
Well put, Rory. Vietnam was a mess and Iraq is mess...but they're very different kinds of messes.
Just remember...2,842 (and counting) American soldiers have died since we started this mess. When will the job be done??? The Middle East has been fighting a war against Israel since 1945. Obviously they don't agree with democracy. But yet we feel it's are god-given right to force it on them. Do we continue this war forever?
One last question...Do we start the draft up again? I mean cummon, this is important. We need to win this thing. Why aren’t all the people that believe we should stay in Iraq either joining the reserves or encouraging others (close to them) to join the arm forces and fight for this important cause?
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