The Iraq War policy debate:
A bunch of politicians trying to make sure they aren’t blamed for the loss of the war pretending to support scenarios to win it, all the time hoping against hope that no one puts their proposals into effect lest they be proven wrong.
In the middle of it all, the pathetic President, abandoned by his “friends,” firing those who followed his orders, unable to move forward, backwards or even run in place.
Imagine that a patient has been rendered brain dead by medical malpractice that can only be discovered by an autopsy. The patient is on life support and the doctor doesn’t want to pull the plug lest an autopsy reveal his misdeeds.
The Iraq War is over but nobody wants to pull the plug which would instantly lead to the assignment of blame for the loss: on the President, on the Congress, on the media, on neoconservatives, and on the American people.
George Bush tells us we’re fighting for democracy in Iraq. Bull. As is clear from this morning’s news, we are backing the Shiites against the Sunnis in a run-of-the-mill religious civil war. Wake up, people!
Justin Raimondo quotes Nancy Pelosi:
“If the president chooses to escalate the war, in his budget request we want to see a distinction between what is there to support the troops who are there now. The American people and the Congress support those troops. We will not abandon them.”
This is pure demagoguery. Nancy, dear, let me explain something to you. In human action, there are means and ends. Wars are fought for certain objectives or ends. They are also fought with means.
You’re mixing up means and ends, which is a really, really stupid thing to do.
We are not in Iraq “to support the troops.” The troops are a means of war, not an end. Of course, “support the troops” is a euphemism for supporting the killing and mutilation of the troops.
So, the question is, not whether we should “support the troops” (support their death and mutilation), but whether there is a valuable objective to be pursued there when weighed against the costs. If so, we should continue to “support the troops” (their death and mutilation).
If not, we should get the troops out of there. If Congress gets some gumption and defunds the war, the commanders of the army will withdraw the troops. They won’t leave them on the battlefield without bullets as imagined in some cheap neocon propaganda ploy aimed at the great unwashed masses.
6:57 pm on January 9, 2007
