Alternet: Dick Cheney's Last Throes

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/37874/

What, exactly, do Republicans mean by 'victory' in Iraq, and how will we know when we have won?

Dick Cheney's Last Throes
By Stephen Elliott, AlterNet
Posted on June 22, 2006, Printed on June 22, 2006

"I guess if I look back on it now, I don't think anybody anticipated the level of violence that we've encountered." - Vice President Dick Cheney, Monday, June 19, 2006

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Yesterday, Senator Frist said, "We are making progress. We can't just cut and run. Surrender is not the answer." We are making progress. Progress toward what? And if we surrendered, what would happen then, and who would we surrender to? If you're not fighting for anything in particular, is it still surrender when you put down your guns and go?

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The Uncle is not happy with America's policy, the right prepares their attack. Nick Berg's head is cut off and his father asks for peace. Cindy Sheehan loses her son and is attacked by the friends of the administration as she holds vigil outside the President's ranch.

The insurgency has been in its last throes for a while now. We're winning, according to the VP, but maybe we underestimated how Saddam's strong-arm tactics would continue to affect the Iraqis' willingness to embrace democratic reforms, he says. Blame it on the people, the culture, the history. Anything but the planning, the soldiers, the planes, the bombs. Anything but willful lies, intelligence manipulation, otherwise intentions.

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The story in the media: Democrats are losing because they can't agree on what to do in Iraq. It's like the older siblings who are punished because they can't agree on how to clean up the younger siblings' mess. The child has puked all over the kitchen and destroyed the vases and wrapped his fat fingers around the cat's skinny neck and now the parents are home and the older children are punished and the younger child is rewarded. Why? Because the young child is consistently wrong and has no intention of fixing anything. The Democrats are in trouble because they can't agree on how to fix the mess the Republicans have made. The Republicans are rewarded for staying the course.

I am still waiting for a convincing argument to stay in Iraq. I would still like to know why we are there in the first place. Instead of criticizing the Democrats for not agreeing on how quickly to leave I would like to focus on what Republicans mean by victory. How will we know when we have won? Will it be when things are as good as they were under Saddam Hussein? Or when it's possible for a foreign journalist to report from inside the country? When women can walk safely without covering their heads? Instead of consensus among Democrats on when we should leave I would like to see a consensus among Republicans on what it means to win in Iraq, and how we will know when we have lost. By what measure we can safely say there is nothing left to do but go home.

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