Dick Durbin's Politically Motivated Liberal Crystal Ball for Iraq
No Matter What General Petraeus Says, One Thing is sure - Dick Durbin Will Claim It's not Working
By: Dr. Steve Sauerberg - Candidate for U.S. Senate
No one is quite sure what General David Petraeus, Commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, will say when he issues his report to Congress on September 11th. While we may not know what General Petraeus will or won't say about the status of U.S. military operations in Iraq, one thing is sure -Dick Durbin will polish up his political liberal crystal ball and offer this prediction: all is lost, we must surrender.
After 37 years on the taxpayer payroll, Dick Durbin is no amateur when it comes to playing politics; quite the contrary, Durbin is the consummate slippery politician. Senator Durbin is not likely to let anything get in the way of his cynical political spin - not respect for our military, not an understanding of the consequence of failure, and certainly not his lack of first-hand experience in Iraq.
Liberal politicians like Dick Durbin would like us to believe that they know better than everyone else. They would like us to believe that they know how to spend our money better than we do. They would like us to believe that they are better at making decisions for our children than we are. They would like us to believe that they are better at making health care decisions for us than we are at making them for ourselves. Now, they also want us to believe that they the "liberals" are better at making decisions for our brave men and women in uniform than the military leaders on the ground are.
Whether we like it or not, we are a country at war. Islamic terrorists have declared a war on us. Islamic Jihadists are not surrendering, neither can we and our military deserves our respect. When we send our sons and daughters into harms way - whether it's for a mission we support or not - we owe a responsibility to those brave soldiers to put our trust, and their lives, in the hands of the military leaders on the ground - not in the hands of opportunistic politicians like Dick Durbin in Washington.
What we need in Washington are leaders who have faith in our military and our troops. What we need is for the professional politicians - for once - to recognize that there might be limits to their abilities to know what the right way forward is. It's time the career politicians stop playing politics with American lives. It's time that Dick Durbin stops playing armchair General and leaves the day to day work of protecting our soldiers to the military commanders in the field.
Dick Durbin's political crystal ball not only ignores what is in the best interest of our military, it also completely disregards what is at stake in Iraq. Whether you supported the use of force against Saddam Hussein or not, it is impossible to downplay the strategic importance that Iraq plays on the global stage. The stakes of failure in Iraq are enormous. Failure in Iraq could destabilize the entire region, embolden our enemies, and leave America weakened on the global stage.
Without debating the how and why we ended up where we are in Iraq, the reality is that Iraq is now a major front - maybe the most important front - in the global war against al-Qaeda. Not only is Iraq now a major front in the war against radical Islamic terrorism it is also critical to our relationship with Iran. No one can seriously debate the threat that would be posed by a nuclear armed Iran. By abandoning Iraq, we invite Iran to expand its military, political and strategic sphere of influence. Such an expansion of Iranian influence would come at the expense of the U.S. and our allies in the Middle East - particularly Israel. It is clear that our management of the situation in Iraq is critical to U.S. efforts to contain Iran.
Not only are their serious military and political consequences of failure in Iraq, there are also tremendous humanitarian concerns. As the world debates how to end genocide in Darfur, an equally monstrous humanitarian disaster looms in Iraq. Failure in Iraq would incite massive sectarian violence resulting in a humanitarian disaster. We have a moral and ethical responsibility to the people of Iraq to take whatever steps necessary to avoid condemning them to a Darfur-style fate.
James Phillips of the Heritage Foundation got it right, "Although those seeking to score political points often try to reduce the war to simple slogans and either-or strategic propositions, the situation on the ground is complex and not adequately described by debate talking points or campaign rhetoric." Sadly, politicians interested only in assigning blame and escaping responsibility spend their time looking backwards when our focus should be on where we go from here.
Most insulting of all, Dick Durbin's political spin over Petraeus' report will ignore his own first hand experience in Iraq. After returning from Iraq in August, Senator Durbin offered an assessment of the troop surge that caught many on the left off guard, "Durbin, speaking to a group of Tribune editors and reporters in Chicago, said that during a trip through Iraq earlier this month he saw a military that has made some progress toward improving security since a manpower 'surge' last February."
For once, Dick Durbin should put away his political crystal ball and do what is right - even if it isn't politically expedient. Senator Durbin should remember his responsibility to our men and women in uniform and place trust in our military leaders. Durbin should acknowledge that the consequences of failure in Iraq are extraordinary, and work for a policy that reflects those realities. Finally, Dick Durbin should at least be honest with his constituents - honest about what he saw in Iraq. The professional politicians are the ones who got us into the mess we are in today, and it is time that they recognize that their approach hasn't worked. Now is the time for an approach to Iraq that puts the strategic, military, and humanitarian interests of the U.S. ahead of the partisan political interests of the politicians in Washington.
# # #
Sauerberg for U.S. Senate - 4700 Gilbert Avenue, Suite 47, PMB 249 Western Springs, IL 60558. For more information on Steve's campaign please visit our website at www.sauerberg2008.com
No comments:
Post a Comment