Lindsay Graham\’s \’Failed State\’
cross-posted on Huffington Post
Lindsay Graham has taken over the Dick Cheney-Condi Rice-George W. Bush Iraq propaganda patter.
He should win an Emmy for his performance yesterday on \”Meet the Press.\” But
we better hope this isn\’t true, because if the Republican plan is all we\’ve got we\’re screwed. It\’s still fear factor
or bust for Bush and his bunch.
Over and over again Graham used an alarming description for Iraq, falsely claiming
that Iraq is teetering towards a \”failed state.\” There\’s only one
reason he used those words. It was to scare Americans into changing their minds
on the Iraq escalation currently in place, which the majority of the country clearly opposes. Republicans are desperate. They\’re also not facing reality.
If we aren\’t going to stay for 10-15 years, which we\’re not unless John McCain wins
in \’08, Graham\’s preferred candidate, then we\’re going to leave Iraq sooner
rather than later. That would be a disaster for Republicans, even though it\’s the only way to build the strength back into our military. The truth is that the civil war can be tamped down, as the Iraqi insurgents wait us out,
but the fighting between Shia and Sunnis cannot be stopped by the American military. However, there is not
a \”failed state\” waiting for the Iraqis at any time in the future or over the horizon. Lindsay
Graham is using these words to try to conjure up an Al Qaeda playing field in order to threaten and scare Americans.
It\’s a monstrous manipulation by the senator. To say it\’s propaganda is being
kind.
The president’s going forward based on an assumption that a
failed state in Iraq is a mighty blow in the overall war on terror.
He’s going forward based on the assumption that, if you put military
reinforcement, political and economic reinforcement, you can turn it around.(snip)
Here’s the one thing I can guarantee you, that if a failed
state in Iraq occurs, the war gets bigger, not smaller. Here’s
what I’d like to do going forward. Give the commanders what they haven’t
had in the past, the resources they need, give them the breathing space to
do it, allow the Iraqi people to regroup, but insist that they do better,
and understand that a failed state is a nightmare for this
country. I believe very passionately that the worst thing this country could
do is have a failed state in Iraq, because it’s part
of the war on terror. The war doesn’t stop the day we leave Iraq, if
it fails, it gets bigger and wider, that the Shia south becomes a
puppet regime for Iran—they’re the biggest winner of a failed
state—that the Turks are not going to sit on the sidelines and watch
Iraq degenerate into chaos and allow an independent Kurdistan.(snip)
We’re not going to send a signal to the terrorists that, if you do
the five things in these resolution, you win. The biggest mistake would be
leaving Iraq as a failed state. …Meet the Press (transcript)
You\’ve got to give the senator an \”A\” for message control. But he
gets an F- on facts, truth and facing reality.
The Iraqis are proud of their country, whether you\’re talking Shia, Sunni or
the Kurds, but that\’s not even the point. The Iraqis have voted, we\’ve got Maliki
in place and even if he fails someone will certainly rise to take his place,
whether it\’s Hakim or whomever. There is no way that the Iraqis are going to
cede their country to Al Qaeda, especially since the majority in the country is Shia. Graham\’s \”failed state\” mantra is a canard. It is flatly false and it\’s my belief the senator knows it. However, Mr. Graham doesn\’t have any intention of talking straight
to the American people. He wants to threaten everyone with a \”failed state\”
in Iraq, because Republicans have run out of rope and John McCain\’s presidential
candidacy is dangling on the end of it.
Al Qaeda is in Anbar Province, but they will never take over Iraq, because
the Iraqis won\’t allow it to happen. In addition, all this talk from Graham about \”moderates\” is laughable. The moderates fled Iraq a long time ago, flooding Jordan and creating a vast refugee crisis about to explode. The misinformation out of Graham\’s mouth yesterday was appalling. To make matters worse Russert just sat there and let it flow.
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