Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Peace with Honor
Posted by: Jon Henke
Aid and comfort...
"The last thing you want to be seen as is a puppet of the United States, and you can almost see the hand underneath the shirt today moving the lips." -- Joe Lockhart, Kerry/Edwards spokesperson
To this point, the Kerry camp has not retracted, or even commented upon, this bone tossed to the jihadists, insurgents and terrorists.
In the middle of a war to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, Joe Lockhart tells them their new government is their worst nightmare....a puppet government of the United States. President Bush may have said "Bring it on", but Joe Lockhart has given them a reason. He’s told the insurgents and jihadists that they are right.
"Relax, Jon, he’s just a spokesperson." Well, yeah, that’s true. But, I fear his defeatism is indicative of a common mindset in the Kerry camp.
Since 1970, John Kerry’s approach to foreign policy has been Vietnam-centric, and that has been reason enough to oppose the extension of US force in any significant way. Whatever the reality on the ground, John Kerry seems determined to find an equivalence with Vietnam, even if it means every problem gets the "peace with honor" treatment.
Well, that’s a pretty good way to lose. As CavalierX writes...
If John Kerry and his cronies can again force the US to abandon its responsibilities by turning public opinion against the war, if we’re forced to watch helplessly as innocents who trusted our promises are butchered again, then the Democrats will at last be justified in calling Iraq a second Vietnam.
My fear is that John Kerry will not press for:
Democracy:
"[Democracy] shouldn’t be the measure of when you leave. I have always said from day one that the goal here . . . is a stable Iraq, not whether or not that’s a full democracy."
Victory:
[If we provided for Iraq’s stability] ... we could begin to withdraw U.S. forces starting next summer and realistically aim to bring all our troops home within the next four years."
It may be peace with honor. But it’s not victory. It’s a self-fulfilling prophesy of defeat.
AI
