Cross Posted From It Affects You
To hear Bush speak of the war in Iraq, one might momentarily forget about Saddam Hussein. One could easily be led to believe the war was always about fighting terrorists and that we have been fighting directly against al Qaeda from day one. I’ve been harping on this theme (here and here) for a few days now because I believe it is an important one.
Conservatives have been trying to tie Iraq with the war on terror since the early days, and we correctly fought them when they did, pointing out the war in Iraq was a diversion from the war on terror and the likely result would be a step backwards in fighting terror. Now that the very policies they pursued have resulted in Iraq truly becoming terrorist recruiting and training grounds, Conservatives feel completely free to justify the war in Iraq as the war on terror. It’s as good of a self fulfilling prophesy as you’re likely to see in politics. What’s worse, they have been doing this largely unchallenged. Every time Bush uses the war on terror to drum up support for the war in Iraq (which is to say always ), we must remind Americans just how it got that way.
Bush was at it again in his radio address:
As these hopeful events occur in the Holy Land, the people of Iraq are also making the tough choices and compromises necessary for a free and peaceful future. In January, eight-and-a-half million Iraqis defied the terrorists and went to the polls to vote. […]
The terrorists are trying to stop the rise of democracy in Iraq because they know a free Iraq will deal a decisive blow to their strategy to dominate the Middle East. But the Iraqi people are determined to build a free future for their nation, and they are uniting against the terrorists.
We saw that unity earlier this month when followers of the terrorist Zarqawi tried to force Shiite Muslims to leave the Iraqi city of Ramadi. Sunni Muslims in that city came to the defense of their Shiite neighbors. As one Sunni leader put it, “We have had enough of Zarqawi’s nonsense. We don’t accept that a non-Iraqi should try to enforce his control over Iraqis.”
By choosing to stand with their fellow Iraqis, these Sunnis rejected the terrorists‘ attempt to divide their nation and incite sectarian violence.
Iraqis are working together to build a free nation that contributes to peace and stability in the region, and we will help them succeed. American and Iraqi forces are on the hunt side by side to defeat the terrorists. As we hunt down our common enemies, we will continue to train more Iraqi security forces.
Bush continues to speak of Iraq solely in the context of the war on terror, and in almost all cases it goes unchallenged. He’s actually using one of the results of his grand mistake to garner continued support for that grand mistake. We wouldn’t let him get away with that back in April of 2003, and there’s no reason we should be letting him get away with that today. The Democratic response should be swift and strong. Whenever Bush mentions Iraq and the war on terror, we need to remind Americans just how it got that way and who is to blame. Fighting the war on terror in Iraq is not something Bush should be boasting about; it is something for which he should be apologizing.
It wouldn’t hurt either if members of the media would do their jobs. It’s not just Democrats who have let him get away with this. I can scarcely recall reading any article where Bush or one of his supporters was quoted tying Iraq with the war on terror and the writer did anything but reprint it.
And on another note, did anyone else notice that in the radio address Bush actually quoted a Sunni leader saying, “We don’t accept that a non-Iraqi should try to enforce his control over Iraqis.” Gee, can anyone else think of at least one other non-Iraqi who might be trying to enforce control of Iraqis? Hmmm…
