I'm thinking about this House vote...
...House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said Thursday's mixed report on the progress of the war shows it's time for American troops to come home.
You know, I came up in the Marine Corps, which we all know has a slightly different outlook on excuses, quitting and mission accomplishment. But hey...
"President Bush continues to urge patience, but what is needed -- and what the American people are demanding -- is a new direction," she said.And what we've all learned from the Democratic Congress is that any time we're not sure about a strategy and we think a "different direction" is in order, that direction should always be capitulation.
[sigh]
Two nights ago, one of my old Army buddies from Iraq was in town for business. He dropped by for some beer drinkin', steak eatin' and bullshittin'. It was a good time.
This guy's a thinker, a real smart guy. He ran our "projects" side in Iraq - the money, the contracts, the payouts, etc. A lot of vision, probably should have been an officer, you know the kind.
He and I were sitting outside enjoying about our 71st cold beer of the evening.
"What do you think," he said, "about..." and he let it trail off.
"Iraq? Shit, man...I dunno."
He nodded. "Me neither."
And folks, my old buddy and I are two people who always "know" (or at least "know" enough to ramble on at length, even if we're full of it). But, we agreed, the political shitstorm surrounding the entire Iraq situation is pretty much unprecedented. I still feel about the war, and I still think about the war. But I no longer have a fucking clue what is going on with the war.
I'm a Petraeus True Believer. If there's one swinging Richard in a uniform who can fix this, it's him.
He was approved, and he was sent. And he implemented a plan that finally kicked off at 100% strength last month. I was under the impression we were expecting a "benchmark" report in September. However, apparently halfway between full manning on the surge and the "benchmark report," we decided we were not sufficiently progressing toward the point where we wanted a progress report.
So, said House Democrats and assorted other fools, we must not wait. We should make plans with little regard for what may or may not be going on in Iraq.
But...I note...this pullout date is about seven months before the November '08 election. Coincidence? I think not.
Here's my prediction. The Senate passes something similar. The President vetoes. Neither chamber will be able to override. Of course they won't override - that's a phenomenally stupid thing to do.
But - throughout the entire election season, everyone who voted for the precipitous pullout will be able to say, "I tried to get them home. If I'd had my way, they'd be grilling in the back yard."
And, if everything is not sunshine and roses and Liberation-of-Paris-style success (and would the modern media even allow the Liberation of Paris to be a success today? Perhaps, but the pictures would be of US GIs pissing in alleys), those who opposed the "pullout" will be castigated. Every bomb, every fatality, every setback, every Reuters photo of a big-eyed grubby urchin, will be turned on those who chose "the harder right over the easier wrong" and voted to stay and try to finish what we started.
I would have more patience for the Loyal Opposition's yammering if they were really seeking a "better direction." There are a lot of strategies out there, and I'm always open to hearing smart people try to find better ways to do things.
But they're not seeking a "better direction." They're seeking a way to appease the shortsighted American public, to find a painless answer.
Sometimes, there are no painless answers. And the worst thing about this kind of debate is that there is no debate. There's no search for the best way to win, to accomplish our goals. There's an embattled President who couldn't articulate why one should look both ways before crossing the road, a VP with the charisma of Darth Vader, and a few gutsy legislators trying to hold the line. That and a few hundred thousand GIs and some real smart generals, none of whom play a tune half as appealing as that the surrender monkeys are cranking out on their newsprint organs.
Tell you what, it's enough to make a couple of old soldiers sitting outside drinking beer say, "ah...fukkit. I don't know anymore."
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