Another Cut and Run Republican
Chris Shays has joined the growing number of Cut and Run Republicans saying we should redeploy our troops from Iraq. I'm shocked and appalled at the number of traitorous Republicans out there.
Let's take a minute and review the origin of the term "cut and run." It comes from the old days of sailing ships, the frigates and galleons that sailed the high sea. If one of these naval vessels was caught at anchor in a harbor they were dead meat because of their inability to maneuver and fight. Rather than be sunk at anchor what they did was "cut and run." This involved cutting the anchor rope and sailing the heck out of there. This enabled them to fight another day rather than die.
When it's obvious your current mission is a failure and all staying will accomplish is the loss of your forces it's time to cut and run. If you don't survive to fight another day in another place you lose the overall war. This is the situation we face in Iraq. Too many failures of planning and policy have dealt us a bad hand. The enemy is in control and there's nothing we can do to reverse the situation short of nuking Baghdad.
Remember how we simply disbanded the Iraqi Army and sent them home with their rifles? Remember how we forbade any other country from participating in the intial reconstruction? Remember how we insisted our own companies (Halliburton) do the reconstruction and not use local Iraqi laborers and contractors? Remember how this went? Remember the $9 billion that simply disappeared from the beds of pick up trucks to (supposedly) pay for this reconstruction? Remember the orders dictated by Paul Bremer essentially making the Coalition Provisional Authority nothing more than a puppet government?
No wonder the insurgency caught fire with the Iraqi people. We couldn't have screwed things up better if we'd been trying. No electricity, bad water, no jobs, no security. If you were living in those conditions you'd be supporting insurrection too. Add to that mix the treatment of prisoners, torture of captives, mass executions by American soldiers and you have today's Baghdad.
One year ago Cindy Sheehan was camped out in Crawford Texas. Bush had said our soldiers were dying for a "noble cause." Cindy wanted to meet with the President to ask for what "noble cause" her son died. Bush refused a meeting. He said more must die to honor those already fallen. So Casey Sheehan died for a noble cause: to honor those whose lives had already been thrown away by greed, lust for power, and incompetence. This is a shameful waste of lives.
Now Cindy Sheehan is back in Crawford still awaiting her meeting. She should have switched her voter registration to Republican and towed a replica FEMA trailer to Washington. It seems that's all it takes.
This war is a disaster. Our troops are dying for nothing. Iraqis are dying for nothing. The situation continues to get worse and not better. There is no plan for victory and no way out of the quagmire if we continue.
Yes, it's time to cut and run.
Let's take a minute and review the origin of the term "cut and run." It comes from the old days of sailing ships, the frigates and galleons that sailed the high sea. If one of these naval vessels was caught at anchor in a harbor they were dead meat because of their inability to maneuver and fight. Rather than be sunk at anchor what they did was "cut and run." This involved cutting the anchor rope and sailing the heck out of there. This enabled them to fight another day rather than die.
When it's obvious your current mission is a failure and all staying will accomplish is the loss of your forces it's time to cut and run. If you don't survive to fight another day in another place you lose the overall war. This is the situation we face in Iraq. Too many failures of planning and policy have dealt us a bad hand. The enemy is in control and there's nothing we can do to reverse the situation short of nuking Baghdad.
Remember how we simply disbanded the Iraqi Army and sent them home with their rifles? Remember how we forbade any other country from participating in the intial reconstruction? Remember how we insisted our own companies (Halliburton) do the reconstruction and not use local Iraqi laborers and contractors? Remember how this went? Remember the $9 billion that simply disappeared from the beds of pick up trucks to (supposedly) pay for this reconstruction? Remember the orders dictated by Paul Bremer essentially making the Coalition Provisional Authority nothing more than a puppet government?
No wonder the insurgency caught fire with the Iraqi people. We couldn't have screwed things up better if we'd been trying. No electricity, bad water, no jobs, no security. If you were living in those conditions you'd be supporting insurrection too. Add to that mix the treatment of prisoners, torture of captives, mass executions by American soldiers and you have today's Baghdad.
One year ago Cindy Sheehan was camped out in Crawford Texas. Bush had said our soldiers were dying for a "noble cause." Cindy wanted to meet with the President to ask for what "noble cause" her son died. Bush refused a meeting. He said more must die to honor those already fallen. So Casey Sheehan died for a noble cause: to honor those whose lives had already been thrown away by greed, lust for power, and incompetence. This is a shameful waste of lives.
Now Cindy Sheehan is back in Crawford still awaiting her meeting. She should have switched her voter registration to Republican and towed a replica FEMA trailer to Washington. It seems that's all it takes.
This war is a disaster. Our troops are dying for nothing. Iraqis are dying for nothing. The situation continues to get worse and not better. There is no plan for victory and no way out of the quagmire if we continue.
Yes, it's time to cut and run.
posted by PA progressive @ Friday, August 25, 2006
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