The Republicans Lost Iraq

The Republicans Lost Iraq

The Republicans lost Iraq. What will their picture be?

A CBS News poll finds the American public
is increasingly convinced that the war in Iraq is going badly and may not get
any better. An overwhelming number say Iraq is currently in a civil war, and
nearly half think the U.S. effort there will not succeed. These findings come
as the Bush Administration prepares to mark the third anniversary of what was
supposed to be a quick engagement. On Monday, Mr. Bush asked Americans to show
patience amid “images of violence and anger and despair” in Iraq,
as he opened a new push to build support for the U.S. effort there. … …
Americans
Pessimistic On Iraq

There is only one reason Americans are “pessimistic”
about Iraq. The Republicans haven't known what they were doing from the get
go. They never faced reality on the ground, choosing “stay the course”
and calls for “victory” as a plan of action. It's not a substitute for accepting the truth. But at this late date, when you don't even know the Iraqi people are who you're fighting in the insurgency, instead of some mythical terrorist boogeyman, there really is no good way through to “victory.”

Slogans aren't a replacement for leadership.

Supporting the troops doesn't include a rubber stamp for a president
who's lost in the desert.

Claiming Iraq is part of the “war
on terror” doesn't exclude the haunting reality that there were no
terrorists there before we arrived.

The reason 60% of America believe the war is going badly is because
it is.

The insurgents bombing the Golden Mosque has truly proved to be
the insurgents'
Tet Offensive, because now President Bush is bugging out. He's finally said
what we've always known. An election year bug out would be best for the boss.

The decision won't change the fact that it's the Republicans
who lost Iraq.

Over the last 3 years, come March 20th, President Bush had in
his power any number of ways to change course, correct his course, create a
new reality in Iraq. What President Bush has done instead is dig in and bear
down on a “stay the course” strategy that has left William
F. Buckley to deduce that “our mission has failed,”
that “it didn't work.” But though Bush
is at the top of the responsibility pile, he's got a whole lot of company at his side.

The Republicans who control Congress not only had a chance to weigh in, but the responsibility to do just that. They could have made a difference, pushed back, stood up to President Bush, but instead they made the choice
to rubber stamp everything he did. Some of the Republicans in Congress, quite
a few of whom think they're now qualified to lead us in the future, became the
president's biggest cheerleaders. The 2008 election is already turning into
Chump for a Day for Republicans.

Senator
John McCain never missed an opportunity to hug the boss, back the boss,
tell him he was right. Senator McCain thought there should be more troops, but
he never mounted a campaign to make that happen. Never pushed hard enough to
truly support the troops in a way that could have changed reality on the ground
in Iraq. Between the admirable Powell and the once revered McCain, God help
us if we get another rubber stamp Republican soldier. (I hear the once esteemed
General Peter Pace in my
ear and I cringe. I shudder when I think of what the formerly respected General
Tommy Franks has wrought. There are others, too. All I can say, is thank heaven for the Fighting Dems.) But McCain didn't want to embarrass the boss,
so instead, he deferred to him. In fact, McCain took his rubber stamp all the
way through the dangerous Dubai
port debacle, backing Bush, saying the president had earned our support.
What a sycophant the straight
talk express man is today. Meanwhile, Iraq and the Dubai deal lie in ruins
around John McCain's feet. God save us from this kind of leadership.

Senator George Allen offered nothing but support for Bush's
“stay the course” campaign, now a calamity. He touts Reagan and Jefferson,
while using his Senate seat to rubber stamp a Republican president that has
put our foreign policy on the most dangerous course we've seen in decades, actually risking our national security. One minute we're dealing
nuclear rods
for mangos. The next minute Deadeye
Dick threatens Iran with bluster, when our bullets are committed to Iraq. Allen thinks this is leadership? Does Allen actually want to lead us from Iraq into Iran?

As for the feckless Senator Frist, he has led the Republican rubber
stamp brigade from Terry Schiavo to the Dubai port deal, with nothing to show
for his efforts. If ever there was a gift to Democrats it's Howdy Frist. He
may be a respected heart surgeon, surely a solo act if there ever was one. But
when it comes to Republican leadership Frist is nothing but a rubber stamping
fool.

It's official. The Republicans have lost Iraq. It's an election
year and George W. Bush is bugging out. I wonder what their picture will be.

UPDATE: Back in Baghdad, one journalist blogs about Baghdad being so much worse.

UPDATE II: 87 bodies found shot execution-style. … Here's an updated story.