Article: The False "Cut and Run" Argument and the Republican plan to "Dump and Run"

One of the latest tricks being yanked out of the Bush Administration's increasingly threadbare bag is the false argument: "The liberals believe that if we cut-and-run from Iraq the terrorists will then leave us alone." They then proceed to criticise the so-called "liberal position," saying that it is as foolish as the beliefs of those who had wanted to "appease" Hitler prior to WW II. The problem is that liberals have never said or implied such nonsense. Over the last few weeks--when Bush isn't busy trying to get Congress to retroactively "clarify" the Geneva Convention so he can avoid a war crimes trial--he, Cheney and Rumsfeld have all been trying to sell us the "false argument," but fewer and fewer Americans are willing to buy it.

The simple truth is that Bush and his gang of incompetents have repeatedly made--and continue to make--reckless and boneheaded foreign policy decisions that have made Americans LESS safe, and the rest of the world MORE unstable and dangerous to all. By now all Americans who have been paying any attention realize that INSTEAD of going after Osama bin Laden and al Qaida the Bush regime lied us into attacking Iraq. And realize that they had no idea of the costly ramifications of what they were doing. Most of us now realize the ill-conceived Iraq War is not winnable--no matter how long the Administration stubbornly chooses to shed American lives and limbs, and bury our country in staggering debt. Iraq is now broken into three parts and Humpty-Dumpty's men can't put it back together again. And Hussein--who was NO threat to Americans--he was already weakened and contained--is now no longer there to keep Shiite Iran under control.

The simple truth is that when Bush, in his Rambo costume, condemned Iraq, Iran and South Korea as the Axis of Evil--and THEN invaded Iraq--his foolish bravado merely ENCOURAGED Iran and South Korea to CONTINUE their plans for nuclear armament. Iran and south Korea may be evil, but they are not stupid. They know that the Bush Administration is comprised of a bunch of hammer-heads. A hammer sees everthing else as a "nail," and a hammer can think of only one option when it comes to dealing with "nails" like Iran and South Korea.

There are still a more than a few hammer-headed Americans who buy into this nonsense, but you don't have to be a genius to realize that America needs to modify its "hammer-headed" foreign policy. You don't have to be a genius--or a "pacifist wimp"--to realize that quiet strength and diplomacy and regaining the trust and partership of our allies is the smarter way to go if you want to truly make this world a safer place. Many folks simply don't realize or appreciate what former President Jimmy Carter accomplished with his tough but wise foreign policy, and quiet but firm diplomacy. He knew that you don't get anywhere by simply threatening other nations and refusing to talk to them. That you don't make America safer by instilling fear and hatred in a billion Muslims, when once existed only a radical few to deal with. That you don't make America safer by trying to impress the rest of the world with your "shock and awe" fireworks and macho threats. If anything, you are now witnessing other nations--nations who had once respected the quiet strength of our former Presidents--increasingly calling George W.'s bluff, and all he knows how to do is sit there and stubbornly raise the ante.

On another note, Democrats must be prepared for what will inevitably occur AFTER they gain control of one or both Congressional houses this November. (That is, if they can make it through the mine-field of voter fraud that maimed them in the last two elections.) Once their beaks are trimmed you can bet that--just as they played their "cut-and -run" card--the Republicans will be yanking their "dump-and-run" card out of Carl Rove's sleeve. They will be trying to dump the Iraq disaster and all of its consequences--including the enormous deficit and suffocating national debt--on the Democrats who--after all--"made us lose the war."

The Democrats will have a lot of repairing and rebuilding to do, and little money to do it with. They will have to carefully begin easing out of Iraq. They will have to undo the outrageous taxes cuts that were doled out to wealthy corporations and individuals. They will have to begin reinstalling the safeguards on our environment and on worker-safety that have been stripped away by conscience-less politicians. They will have to force Big Business and government officials to begin sleeping in separate beds. They will have to redeploy our country's vast, but finite resources and military manpower, and focus it on fighting--rather than creating--terrorists around the world. And they will have to begin the painstaking but vital task of regaining the rest of the world's trust and confidence, in order to restore this country's safety, financial stability and respectability in the world.

And we Americans will need to heed the lesson taught to us over the last six long and costly years: That each and every one of us must be more involved in the running of our country. We cannot afford to blindly trust our political office-holders to do what is best for our nation and for its working citizens. And we cannot sit back once the Democrats restore the "balance of power." Democrats--like Republicans--must be continually reminded that they represent "we the people," and not just the powerful and the wealthy. Our elected representatives must be pushed to make political decisions that are in the interest of America as a whole, if America is to provide liberty, opportunity and justice for all.