WHEN HE went before the nation Wednesday night, President Bush looked like a desperate man pleading for one more chance to get the war in Iraq right.
The president said he will send 21,500 more troops to Iraq to subdue the violence in Baghdad and give the Iraqi government another chance to take control of its own country.
“If we increase our support at this crucial moment and help the Iraqis break the current cycle of violence,” he said, “we can hasten the day our troops begin coming home.”
Congress cannot countermand the legitimate military orders of the commander in chief, but it does hold the purse strings that finance the execution of those orders.
The issue before a skeptical Congress is whether this is a “crucial moment” in which decisive action can make a difference or just another of the anonymous awful moments that succeed each other inevitably as a flawed society dissolves into chaos.
The president’s critics say the crucial moments in this war passed before the war began. Those were the moments in which the administration decided to massage intelligence data to strengthen the case for war. They were also the moments in which generals who wanted enough troops to secure the country after the invasion were overruled.
The mess that is Iraq today is a direct result of the bad decisions made in those moments, compounded by several years of self-delusion and political opportunism.
Given that history, it is doubly important that Congress lay aside its own preconceptions, wishful thinking and dreams of political payback as it considers the president’s proposal.
The question for Congress is not whether sending more troops to Iraq would be unpopular with voters, but whether sending more troops would have a reasonable chance of stabilizing Iraq.
For that, members of Congress cannot rely on the president’s assertions or on their own prejudices.
Congress must collect information from the military, security agencies, diplomats and other experts to understand exactly what has happened in Iraq and what is likely to happen next, and then to act on that information.
If Congress does that, then the war may indeed reach a crucial moment — the moment in which Congress finally steps forward to assume its constitutional responsibilities in the conduct of national affairs.
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor
Phil_Dillon (anonymous) says...
This all looks a bit like 1864. Lincoln was being portrayed as a buffoon and a monkey. Mcclellan, one of his former generals, was running against him as a peace candidate. Lincoln actually thought Mcclellan was going to win.
In what must have seemed at the time to be desperation, Lincoln fired more than a few of his generals. Enter Grant and Sherman. While neither was popular, they were finally the men who split the Confederacy and chased Robert E Lee and his army to Appomatox, where the Confederacy collapsed.
It was brutal. It was bloody. But is was necessary to preseve the Union and abolish the idea that some people, because of the color of their skin, were nothing more than chattel property.
I can't say that we will win in Iraq. But I can say with certainty that failure there will only bring the wolf of international terrorism another step closer to our doors.
This all leaves me with some questions for our legislators and the Gazette:
1. If you don't believe we need to win in Iraq, what do you believe is the alternative to victory?
2. Do you believe that the people or Iraq, and the people of the Middle-East are incapable of self-governance?
3. What responsibility would you or the legislators take if we do fail?
I have other questions, but these will suffice for now.
January 13, 2007 at 12:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hottopics (anonymous) says...
It is a hard truth that this isnt a war, its a fight to end TERRORISM. They made it into our country, plotted and succeeded a unthinkable act against the ONLY country who gives our hard earned dollars to other countries who have their hands out. Everyone wants our help but when we need it, where are they?????? Unfortunately we have to fight this overseas and it hasnt gone as quickly and easily as hoped for. My son is headed over there too! I dont want to him to lose his life but I do want this to be fought there instead of here any day. I wish we could just pack up and leave. But we have to stay and prevail or they will be back on our soil....not if..... but when!!!
January 14, 2007 at 8:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )