I just read two posts that make exactly the point Democrats need to take into the November election against Republicans everywhere. The first is (of course) Digby quoting Jim Webb from this mornings’ interview with George Stephenapolis. When George told Jim Webb that he was part of the “I told you so chorus” Jim responded:
“Well, I think there are a lot of people who don’t want to be reminded that they were warned. I think it’s relevant, when you talk about how you build national strategy, and how you use the military — to talk about how these decisions should be made. There should be some sort of accountability.“[bold mine – RB]
Is that too much to ask of an administration who specifically created a so-called Preemptive War Doctrine just so they could attack a nation that was no danger to America?
Face it. The Republican attack on Iraq was intended to use the great American military power on an easy target that had already been shown vulnerable to American military firepower so as to apply “Shock and Awe” and intimidate our REAL enemies out of attacking us.
Digby further quotes something he says Jim Webb wrote back in 2004 (but does not provide a link that I can find):
“Bush arguably has committed the greatest strategic blunder in modern memory. To put it bluntly, he attacked the wrong target. While he boasts of removing Saddam Hussein from power, he did far more than that. He decapitated the government of a country that was not directly threatening the United States and, in so doing, bogged down a huge percentage of our military in a region that never has known peace. Our military is being forced to trade away its maneuverability in the wider war against terrorism while being placed on the defensive in a single country that never will fully accept its presence.
There is no historical precedent for taking such action when our country was not being directly threatened. The reckless course that Bush and his advisers have set will affect the economic and military energy of our nation for decades. It is only the tactical competence of our military that, to this point, has protected him from the harsh judgment that he deserves.”
So Bush gambled that he could prevent other Middle Eastern terrorists from attacking America by demonstrating the massive firepower that our military could apply and showing that we would use it.
Or in terms of a cheap potboiler, he stood up and said to the enemies in the dark “I have a gun and I’ll use it!!”
Guess what. Just like in the potboiler, the panicky threat into the darkness failed.
Here is the other item I read today. Via TPM we get this report from the Baltimore Sun:
“Critically important reporting in this morning’s Baltimore Sunon what amounts to a complete collapse of U.S. efforts to establish an Iraqi civil police authority:
Brutality and corruption are rampant in Iraq’s police force, with abuses including the rape of female prisoners, the release of terrorism suspects in exchange for bribes, assassinations of police officers and participation in insurgent bombings, according to confidential Iraqi government documents detailing more than 400 police corruption investigations.
Some have argued, persuasively, that any effort to create a professional and effective Iraqi police force was doomed from the earliest days of the occupation when the Pentagon failed to put enough boots on the ground, especially police and civil affairs units, to secure the peace.
Not only did the insurgency step into that power vacuum but a fearful population, including, undoubtedly, members of the police forces themselves, also turned instinctively to their religious and tribal associations for protection. That doomed the chances of establishing an impartial civil authority:”
The Bush administration has attacked the wrong target, totally wasted our American ground forces on his misdirected attack, failed to change the view of any other Middle East nation, and wasted four years and God only knows how many dollars, lives, and other resources (not the least being the American reputation for trying to do what is Right for people generally) in the effort.
There IS NO POSITIVE OUTCOME that can be worth the Bush administration’s failed gamble.
So they do not want to be held accountable. That is a given. Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld and the Republican Party have royally screwed to pooch. So they don’t want to hear “I told you so!” They want to try to let it slide until it is essentially forgotten.
But the clock is ticking, and those “ticks” can be measured in American lives, money and other nasty effects. We can’t win in Iraq. We can’t even get the Bush admin to give us a description of what it means to win beyond “As the Iraqis stand up, the Americans will stand down.”
Right. And the Iraqis aren’t going to stand up.
So the Bush administration has decided to play to purely American politics. The U.S. economy is on life-support, being held up by the military spending. When the U.S. does begin to back out of Iraq, the result is going to be a recession as military spending is reduced. And spending has to be reduced, since it is currently supported only by excessive borrowing from foreigners which cannot be kept up much longer.
The result politically will be that the Republicans can blame the then current President (probably a Democrat) for both losing Iraq (he will pull out the troops) and for causing a Recession (he was in office.)
See how it works? The U.S. will go through a Republican-caused Recession (similar to what happened to Argentina after the Generals were removed from government) but the Republicans can try to shift the blame to the Democrats who are in charge when it happens, The Republicans will get their base back to elect them back into office. This will be easier since they will blame the Democrats for losing Iraq in addition to causing the Recession.
Every real terrorist incident after the Republicans leave office will be blamed on the “soft” Democrats, in spite of the fact that the <span style=”font-style: italic;”>Republicans haven’t bothered to fight them or protect us from them</span>. They can’t. All the American resources are being wasted in Iraq.
Simple, isn’t it.
That’s why the Democrats need to demand accountability for what the Republicans have done – as Jim Webb has been doing to George Allen.
[Cross posted to dKos at dKos]