THE BUSH administration, not always sure-footed, is adept at projecting its message into the subconscious of the people of the United States. The president’s handlers accomplish that by using catch phrases that are punchy but short on information. These days the favorites are “stay the course” and and “cut and run.” “Stay the course,” of course, is what the president wants to do. “Cut and run” is what he says anybody who disagrees with him is advocating.
Those phrases are used to avoid debate and create the impression that the world is a simple place in which any situation has only two courses: the right one and the wrong one. Needless to say, the president’s course is always the right one. To reinforce that message, the phrases are used over and over again — by the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense, the president’s press spokesman and anybody else who is called upon to speak for the administration.
As a result, what should be a national dialogue about strategy and tactics in the war against terrorism has been reduced to the level of “APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD! APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD! APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD!”
Government by catch phrase is wearing thin, even for the president’s strongest supporters. Republican Sen. John Warner returned from a tour of Iraq and declared that the administration’s strategy has created a disaster and that things are getting worse. It is time, Warner said, not to stay the course nor to cut and run, but to chart a new course.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that October is shaping up to be the deadliest month for Iraqis since the news cooperative began tracking those deaths last year. The AP has found a current daily average of 45 confirmed deaths of Iraqi civilians, officials, security forces and police officers. That is compared to a daily average of 27 since April 2005.
Iraqis, of course, are not the only ones dying. The Washington Post’s tally of U.S. service members killed in Iraq reached 2,765 this week. Department of Defense figures indicate that more than 20,000 U.S. soldiers have been wounded by hostile action.
Before the war began, Secretary of State Colin Powell cited what he called “The Pottery Barn Rule: You break it, you own it.”
That’s a catch phrase that has staying power and has proven disappointingly apt.
The administration, in its endless insistence that Iraq is not broken, continues to deny this nation’s ownership of the result. That is cutting and running from the truth.
To think that Iraq has been broken by the administration’s current strategy — to disagree with the president — is not defeatism.
It is the first step to trying to make Iraq whole again and to making the long war worth its cost in blood and treasure.
It is time to replace “Stay the course” with “When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.”
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor
Prioress (anonymous) says...
There will be a "cut and run" but the plans will be released after the election. Eventually, we will do what we did in Viet Nam...declare the Iraqis capable of defending themselves (knowing they are not.) Then we will retreat to the permanent bases we are building, at least for awhile, and wait it out. Of course, BUSHCO may insist on staying so several (maybe tens) of thousands more will die so the first 3,000 "did not die in vain." If you are old enough, that should sound familiar.
October 20, 2006 at 8:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )