Joe Klein: Think Twice About a Pullout

[Martin Eden]

This commentary in Time Magazine got me riled enough to respond with a LTTE:

--snip--
Murtha, a Marine combat veteran of Vietnam, was speaking from the heart. He makes weekly visits to Washington-area military hospitals. He has spent a lifetime devoted to what he perceives to be the best interests of the U.S. military. But unlike McCain, Murtha does not seem to believe that the war against Islamist terrorism is the highest national priority. He said Iraq threatened to drain resources from "procurement programs that ensure our military dominance." On the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, he wondered if China were the real threat "down the road" and expressed dismay that "we only bought four or five ships this year."

In an odd way, Murtha sounded an awful lot like Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who, according to high-ranking military officials, has seemed slightly annoyed that the war in Iraq has diverted resources from his real goal of "transforming" the military into a high-tech outfit that can scare the bejeezus out of China. Rumsfeld's Pentagon has refused to undertake the violent reordering of priorities—more special forces, more intelligence, zero boats—needed to fight a scruffy, labor-intensive struggle against an enemy that thrives in shadows in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Rumsfeld's relative indifference to the shooting war since the fall of Baghdad, combined with the President's garishly bellicose rhetoric and refusal to ask wartime sacrifices of the public, has led to a national embarrassment—a cloddish superpower that talks big and acts small—and is leading to an inevitable, irresponsible sidle out of Iraq.

Murtha did not talk about the consequences of a precipitous withdrawal. No one really has. The most passionate discussions in Washington last week were about the past—whether the President intentionally misled the country into war—not the future. They are a waste of time. Two questions need to be addressed: Will an American withdrawal from Iraq create more or less stability in the Middle East? Will a withdrawal increase or decrease the threat of another terrorist attack at home? It does not matter whether you believe the war was right or wrong. If the answers to those questions are less stability and an empowered al-Qaeda, we'd better think twice about slipping down this dangerous path.


http://www.time.com/time/columnist/klein/article/0,9565,1132784,00.html

My LTTE:
Joe Klein exhibits a fundamental misunderstanding of the war in Iraq when he writes "unlike McCain, Murtha does not seem to believe that the war against Islamic terrorism is the highest national priority." The invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with Islamic terrorism, except that it continues to generate more of it. Our highest national priority should be to change this disastrous course.

Mr. Klein also writes that discussions about whether the president misled the country into war are "a waste of time." Excuse me, but what about next time? Closing our eyes to abuse of power and failing to hold our government officials accountable would be "slipping down" a truly "dangerous path."

[neuvocat]

1. Terrorism is not Bushco's top priority either.

Getting control of the oil fields however is. Klein failed to acknowledge that Bush created the mess over there in the first place.

[yurbud]

7. It amazes me that even lefty writers sidestep OIL and instead talk about..

the terrorist boogeyman.

They should all go see Syriana.

[LiviaOlivia]

2. Joe Klein:

A wanker and I see he's striving to a higher state of wankerism.

[Cha]

6. Yeah, joe klein has a

huge failing of understanding situations.

[bemildred]

3. Thinking twice about invading would have been useful.

Thinking twice about putting that mouth-breather Bremer in charge would have been useful.
His claim that staying in Iraq will help stabilize flys in the face of what has happened already, we have stabilized nothing, it's been all downhill and our rudder has been shot off. These half-wits never want to cut their losses.

[Martin Eden]

4. I also emailed him personally

rather than tearing him a new one, I maintained civility:


I disagree very strongly with 2 things you wrote in your "Think Twice About a
Pullout" column.

1) "But unlike McCain, Murtha does not seem to believe that the war against
Islamic terrorism is the highest national priority."

I don't claim to know what McCain or Murtha think, but I think events of the
last two years demonstrate that the war in Iraq is counterproductive in the war
against Islamic terrorism. It has inflamed the Islamic world (and much of the
rest of the world) against America, and according to the CIA's National
Intelligence Council Iraq has become the recruiting and training ground for the
next generation of professional terrorists. The presence of American troops,
more than anything else, fuels the Iraqi insurgency and attracts jihadis to
Iraq. Arguing for a pullout is a legitimate position of someone who actually
believes that the war against Islamic terrorism is the highest national
priority.

2) "The most passionate discussions in Washigton last week were about the past
-- whether the President intentionally misled the country into war -- not the
future. They are a waste of time."

To the contrary, the future depends on learning from past mistakes and not
repeating them. Holding our government officials accountable -- especially for
serious crimes with disastrous consequences -- is essential to a functioning
democracy. The evidence suggests there is much more to these allegations than
mere partisan politics. Pursuing truth and justice is never a waste of time,
whereas failure to do so would truly be "slipping down" a "dangerous path."

[bemildred]

5. Not bad.

:thumbsup:

[yurbud]

8. my letter to Klein

Joe,

The real question that controls whether we withdraw from Iraq is the same as the reason we went in: OIL.

BBC journalist Greg Palast did a good job of getting the state department document outlining the privatization and expropriation of Iraqi oil, and interviewed the players including Grover Norquist, who wrote it, and General Jay Garner, who was ordered to implement it and refused.

http://www.gregpalast.com/printerfriendly.cfm?artid=437

Until that becomes central to the debate on Iraq, you are essentially still playing as if the Bush script for the war is true even though it is a proven lie.

It is a disgrace to American democracy and journalism that we aren't talking about the real agenda driving our policy in the middle east.

[thebigidea]

9. if Murtha sounds like Rumsfeld, Joe Klein is Paul fuckin' Wolfowitz

these assholes were wrong before, and have no credibility whatsoever.