Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Politics - Does it trump patriotism?
Well, it sure seems to...
This is from the Wall Street Opinion Journal's featured article on January 25th, 2007:
"This is not to say that the resolution won't have harmful consequences, at home and abroad. At home, it further undermines public support for the Iraq effort. Virginia Republican John Warner even cites a lack of public support to justify his separate non-binding resolution of criticism for Mr. Bush's troop 'surge'. But public pessimism is in part a response to the rhetoric of failure from political leaders like Mr. Warner. The same Senators then wrap their own retreat in the defeatism they helped to promote.
In Iraq, all of this undermines the morale of the military and makes their task that much harder on the ground. When John McCain asked Lieutenant General David Petraeus that precise question during his confirmation hearing Tuesday, the next commander of Coalition operations in Iraq said, 'It would not be a beneficial effect, sir.'
And when Joe Lieberman asked if such a resolution would give the enemy cause to believe that Americans were divided, he added, 'That's correct, sir.' Several Senators protested and demanded that the general stay out of domestic politics, but his only offense was telling the truth. Of course the enemy would take comfort from any Senate declaration that Mr. Bush lacks domestic support."
