Reid Declares Defeat in Iraq
Posted by Bobby Eberle (GOPUSA...The Loft)
April 20, 2007 at 6:04 am
On Thursday, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid did something that will surely cut at the heart of troop morale. With brave men and women risking their lives everyday in Iraq to promote freedom and combat terrorism, Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, announced to the media that “this war is lost.”
As noted in the Washington Times, Reid is going public with the same comments he said he relayed to the White House on Wednesday.
“This war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday,” Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, said at a Capitol Hill press conference with anti-war state legislators.
Mr. Reid said that both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates agree with his position, though neither has ever declared defeat.
“You have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows,” said Mr. Reid, who left the press conference without fielding follow-up questions.
The fact of the matter is that up until this recent wave of violence, the beefed-up security efforts using additional troops was working to secure Baghdad. As noted in the Times’s story: “Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, this week said a little over half of the 25,000-troop surge he requested has arrived in Baghdad.”
So, Reid concedes defeat when many of the additional troops needed to put down the insurgency have not even set foot in Iraq? This is utterly pathetic. Reid’s comments send a very bad signal to our troops and a message of idiocy to the American people. How is Harry Reid going to know better than our military commanders? Reports from the field commanders of late have been positive, but Harry Reid somehow knows better? I don’t think so!
In a statement released Thursday, House Minority Leader John Boehner said he agrees with President Bush that “military decisions should be made by the generals on the ground, and not by politicians in Washington.”
Boehner added:
When we return to the Capitol later today, House Republicans will force an up-or-down vote on the question of whether the military spending bill should give al-Qaeda a date certain for American surrender in Iraq. Any such timetable would be a disaster for our troops in harm’s way, and I believe a majority of the American people agree. I also believe most Americans are outraged that Congress has insulted our troops by attaching billions of dollars in pork-barrel spending to legislation that is meant to fund and protect our soldiers.
Boehner is also quoted in the Times as saying, “While Mr. Reid may be willing to throw in the towel and declare this a lost cause, I am certain that American troops are not. … Mr. Reid’s comments are demoralizing to our troops, and just plain wrong.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement on Thursday saying:
I can’t begin to imagine how our troops in the field, who are risking their lives every day, are going to react when they get back to base and hear that the Democrat Leader of the United States Senate has declared the war is lost. I can’t begin to imagine what their families will think. Surely this isn’t the consensus position of Senate Democrats.
McConnell cut to the heart of the Democrats’ cowardice and grandstanding for the left wing when he noted that if Reid and other Democrats truly believe the war is lost, then they should vote to defund it now. Instead, the Democrats have lined the funding bill with deadlines and pork in order to prolong the public debate and score points with their supporters.
The Democrats have no plan for Iraq… they have no idea what to do. The best course of action is to listen to the commanders on the ground and adapt to the situation at hand. That is what President Bush is doing. Saying the “war is lost” is the worst message to send to our troops and to governments around the world.
Interesting links...
Doug Ross @ Journal...must read...
Dan Reihl@ Reihl World View ...call for resignation...
Mark Levin @ National Review ...another call for resignation...
Michelle Malkin... always on target
