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'Cutting and Running' From Iraq John LeBoutillier "Cut and run" is the accusation hurled toward anyone advocating withdrawal of our troops from Iraq. Of course, the implication is that it is cowardly if you talk of troop reductions or withdrawals or timetables. Interesting ... Because now the new Iraqi prime minister, Nouri Al-Maliki – just 12 days after a surprise face-to-face meeting with GW Bush – himself is talking of a timetable for the reduction of American troops! Here is what is really going on: A panicked GOP and White House – fearful of losing one or both houses of Congress in November and thus entering a blizzard of investigations – has craftily begun yet another PR campaign on Iraq. In this campaign, they are branding the Democrats as wimps and ‘advocates of surrender' when they introduce Senate resolutions calling for deadlines and troop withdrawals. Meanwhile, our own commanding general in Iraq, General Casey, has leaked out a plan to begin reducing our troops this September – just weeks before these crucial November midterm elections.
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Furthermore, Casey's plan – leaked over the weekend to all broadcast networks and major newspapers – details troop reductions all the way through 2007. If that isn't a timetable, then what is? All the arguments used to attack Jack Murtha – the original proponent of reducing and ultimately withdrawing all our troops from Iraq – that it is "cutting and running," that we "need to support our troops," that it will be ‘read by the Islamists as American surrender,' that it will ‘embolden' the insurgents and al-Qaida – apply equally to the Casey/Bush/Rummy Troop Drawdown Plan. So what we have here is plain old politics being played with this war – by both sides in D.C. Both parties supported this war – overwhelmingly. In fact, they fell all over each other to vote for the war in October 2002.
But only after things turned sour on the ground in Iraq – and the American people turned on the war (almost 60 percent now believe it was a mistake) – did the political backtracking and attacks begin. Democrats, hearing it loud and clear from their leftist base, began ‘apologizing' for the pro-war vote. (John Edwards and John Kerry have apologized; Hillary and Joe Lieberman have not. Hillary now is getting booed, and Lieberman may lose his August 8 Connecticut primary to an anti-war candidate.) GOP congressmen are very nervous over Iraq. The White House has convinced them to – yet again – embrace the war instead of running away from it. But the candidates are nervous because all polls now show that the intense voters are the ones who are against the war. Plus, conservatives are so disconsolate over Bush's pro-amnesty immigration plan that many may just stay home in November. Indeed, these are perilous times for conservatives and Republicans. They are being asked to carry the water for an administration that is hopelessly out of touch with the GOP base on immigration, international trade deals, and federal spending – and is also out of sync with the majority of Americans on a war that never seems to end and never shows any substantial progress. Republican loyalty is admirable, but Republicans' judgment is questionable. They wisely scuttled an awful immigration bill but refuse to admit that it is high time to begin to leave Iraq. If General Casey can advocate a gradual plan for troop reductions, then that is the way we all ought to go. The American people want it. But Prime Minister Al-Maliki's proposal to give amnesty to Iraqi insurgents is going to cause big, big problems. Just the idea that some of these murderous butchers who run around kidnapping and beheading people might be allowed to get away with it makes a mockery of the entire war effort. Just what are we fighting for if these crimes go unpunished? It proves one thing: The Middle East is filled with barbarians unworthy of American sacrifice, honor, and blood.
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