BCT Editorial – 8/7/05

This page was last updated on August 7, 2005.

Cut and run; Editorial; Beaver County Times; August 7, 2005.

This editorial is an example of putting words in your opponent’s mouth and then bashing him for them. Everyday the Bush administration is asked when our troops will come home. Everyday the answer is “when the Iraqi security forces can stand on their own.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“The Bush administration is laying the groundwork to declare victory and get out of Iraq.”

[RWC] I could be wrong, but I don’t believe this is the first time the Times has made this assertion.

“The Associated Press reports the Pentagon is preparing for beginning a withdrawal from Iraq, even as it weighs the risk of moving so quickly that Iraqi security forces collapse without U.S. support.”

[RWC] In case the author missed it, the Pentagon has been preparing for withdrawal from Iraq since the day Iraq fell. The point never was to permanently occupy Iraq.

I don’t know about the specific story to which this editorial refers, but the recent statements I’ve seen attributed to the Pentagon mention only the possibility of withdrawing 20,000 – 30,000 troops beginning next spring. In all cases the generals stationed in Iraq making the statement made it clear even partial withdrawal depended on favorable political and security trends in Iraq. I even saw an interview in which one of the generals indicated they might temporarily increase troop strength before the elections later in 2005. None of the statements I’ve heard or read from Pentagon officials or commanders in Iraq have indicated any inclination to “cut and run.”

“Given what we know about this administration in regard to Iraq, that nation will descend into civil war soon after U.S. troops withdraw. There’s no reason to believe otherwise. As the AP noted, noticeably absent from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s recent comments was any assertion that defeating the insurgency is one of the conditions for an American withdrawal.”

[RWC] I could be wrong, but I don’t believe completely defeating the terrorists in Iraq was ever a prerequisite for beginning withdrawal of U.S. troops. I believe the goal has always been to get Iraqi forces trained so they could defeat the terrorists themselves. Here’s what Rumsfeld said during an interview on Fox News Sunday (June 26, 2005): “We’re not going to win against the insurgency. The Iraqi people are going to win against the insurgency.”

“We have sown the wind, and we (and the Iraqis) are about to reap the whirlwind.”

[RWC] The editorial authors must like this saying. This is at least the third time in the last year we’ve seen this saying in this context. The other editorials were entitled “Sunshine patriots” (August 22, 2004) and “Bitter harvest” (February 1, 2005).