Article: Republican Dishonesty on Iraq

Republican Dishonesty on Iraq

Telling the truth to both the American public and themselves are weak points in the thinking of top Republican political figures. They have been intentionally dishonest with the voting public and intellectually dishonest with themselves on almost every aspect of the Iraq War.

The failed policies of the Bush Republicans have turned the Iraqi people against American occupation by huge margins. In the past year, the American public has moved rapidly in the same direction. The Republicans have placed ideologically based worldview over reality based policies on almost every issue. In the Iraq context, the results have been a complete disaster to American interests.

Tying the Iraq conflict to the so-called "War on Terror" is dishonest. Iraq under Saddam Hussein did not help conduct the 9-11 terrorist attacks on America. Terror is an emotion and not a political movement or a military force. It is impossible to launch a war against an emotion. The war slogan was design to create emotional support for the Republican Iraq War policy and to curtail honest, logical debate on the policies adopted by the Bush Administration.

Because the pre-war debate was not honest and logical, the policies that followed were awful. The results were a logical result of a failed, ideologically based policy that concealed the real motives for the conflict regarding both concept and execution. Right Wing Republican ideology and greed are poor standards to use in designing military and foreign policies. Slogans are no substitute for logical thinking. Cherry-picking facts to support ideologically motivated war policies is approaching insanity.

Bush, Cheney, Rice and other Bush Administration figures are in deep denial about the reality of the Iraq disaster. It is very bad and getting worse. Increasing the number of troops will not help. American military power is not the answer and never was the answer. Killing more Iraqis, blaming Iran, risking the lives of more American soldiers and wasting hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars will not make the Republican approach intellectually sound, logical or reality based. Only the rapid removal of American forces will limit the scope of the growing disaster.

Republican efforts to taint disapproval of the Bush-McCain troop surge, by falsely charging that it is not supporting our troops, is illogical and intentionally dishonest. The proposed Congressional resolution opposing the Republican escalation plan clearly states that Congressional resolution supporters strongly support our soldiers in the field.

Senate Republicans blocking debate on a resolution opposing the Bush-McCain troop surge plan tried to change the subject by pushing a proposal to block any future option cutting off Iraq War funding. The option to block war funding if results on the ground continue to degenerate should remain on the table. The Senate Republicans are trying to lock America into a failed policy forever or at least until Bush leaves office.

American voters should vote against all Senate Republicans or Democrats who blocked the resolution opposing the Bush-McCain troop surge when their terms expire. Over 70 percent of the American public opposes the troop surge escalation plan. The Senators blocking the resolution debate and vote fail to understand that the United States is supposed to be a Democracy. They should not use their offices to thwart the overwhelming will of the American public.

Staying in Iraq is even worse than the decision to invade. Staying has no real hope of making the situation better. We have seen years of reality to judge the wisdom of the Republican Iraq War policy. It is a failure. Our soldiers are doing an excellent job but they cannot work miracles. The failure is at the political level. Our soldiers should not be paying the price of Republican political dishonesty or ideological thinking.

Support our troops by bringing them home by the end of 2007. We need a new reality based policy. An honest debate on the failed Republican Iraq war policy is years overdue!

Written by Stephen Crockett (co-host of Democratic Talk Radio http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com.) Mail: P.O. Box 283, Earleville, Maryland 21919. Email: midsouthcm@aol.com . Phone: 443-907-2367.