[Dean's World] Dave Price: Bush's Iraq Policy Trump Card

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Posted by Dave Price:
Bush's Iraq Policy Trump Card
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1163620010.shtml


   I always suspected it would come down to [1]this sooner or later.

     WASHINGTON - The top U.S. commander in the Middle East warned
     Congress Wednesday against setting a timetable for the withdrawal
     of U.S. troops from Iraq, saying it would impede commanders in
     managing U.S. and Iraqi forces.

   The bedrock political strength of Bush's Iraq policy is that it rests
   on the advice of the military, in which public trust runs deep and
   wide, whatever they may think of the war itself or the decision to
   invade. Democrats may have no qualms about calling Bush incompetent,
   but witnessing how quickly they ran away from Kerry's perceived knock
   on U.S. troops, it's safe to assume they will be very wary about
   voicing similar opinions regarding the commanders on the ground in
   Iraq. That public view of the military as nearly sacrosanct is a major
   difference between now and Vietnam, and it puts the Dems in an awkward
   position when they advocate a position the military vehemently
   disagrees with.
   Abizaid also indicated the situation seems to be improving:

     Asked about his testimony in August that Iraq could fall into civil
     war and that the sectarian violence was as bad as he had ever seen
     it, Abizaid said that more recently the situation has improved,
     while still troubling. He visited Baghdad in recent days.
     "It's certainly not as bad as the situation appeared back in
     August," Abizaid said, adding that he saw growing confidence among
     Iraqis in their government. "It's still at unacceptably high
     levels," he said of the sect-on-sect violence "I wouldn't say that
     we have turned the corner in this regard, but it's not nearly as
     bad as it was in August."

   There's only one way out of Iraq: an Iraqi security force capable of
   defending the country's constitutional democracy from enemies foreign
   and domestic, whether that takes one year or ten.
   And let me state again that if Baker thinks Iran and Syria are going
   to cooperate in stabilizing a free, democratic Iraq right on their
   borders he's delusional. As the Soviet experience shows, awareness of
   freedom corrodes repressive regimes. By its very existence a free and
   democratic Iraq is a threat to those governments.

References

   1. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061115/ap_on_go_co/congress_iraq_10