I don’t wanna be depressing, but two things need to be said. The Democrats support the occupation of Iraq. The Democrats plan for the U.S. to stay there if they win in 2008. Here it is, deal with it:
Since their push began early this year to withdraw combat troops from Iraq, U.S. congressional Democrats mostly have avoided estimating the size of the force that would remain at the end of the redeployment they envision.
But some Democrats, who won control of Congress in last November’s elections largely on a pledge to bring U.S. troops out of Iraq, admit they assume a sizable number would stay.
“The fact is I don’t know how many troops will be there. I’ve heard anywhere from 20,000 — and now I’ve got, this is the highest number I’ve heard — to 70,000,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, when asked about troop strength if a Senate withdrawal plan was enacted.
(Brief rant within rant: Harry, you’re the g-damn leader of the Senate, stop speaking in the PASSIVE VOICE! “I don’t know?” “You’ve heard?” What the hell is that, you’re a decider, dude!)
This Reidian mealy-mouthing is everywhere, among the Presidential Candidates, Beltway Democratic ‘leaders’, and mainstream ‘liberal’ pundits. The phrase of the day is “_COMBAT_ TROOPS.” Stick it in your news search engine and watch the Democrats ooze up.
For example, look how Barack Obama takes a direct question today on “troops” and turns it into an answer on “combat troops” (emphasis added):
Q: I will jump right into this: Are you willing to be the man who finally and officially pulls U.S. troops out of Iraq?
Obama: [Cautionary bloviating …] But if we begin a phased, responsible redeployment, I see no reason why we should not have our combat troops out by certainly early summer of next year.
Get it, there’re these ‘bad’ troops called combat troops that the Dems will definitely withdraw, but there’s these good ‘non-combat’ troops…
Why does anyone with a gram of common sense stand for this? Troops = soldiers = ‘kill people’ = combat. Do I got that right? What the f… are these inside-baseball Dems trying to pull on us?
This is where the real battle is now, this is what ‘combat troops’ means, whether our troops will stay in Iraq indefinitely, as all the leading Democratic and Republican candidates desire. Or whether at least the left will find itself a viable alternative.
