BCT Editorial – 9/17/07

This page was last updated on September 22, 2007.

Bad timing; Editorial; Beaver County Times; September 17, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“The timing of President Bush’s prime time speech on Thursday was significant.

“And not because of its proximity to the sixth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. This administration’s exploitation of that traffic day has become so common place that that’s a given.”

[RWC] And here I thought the timing was the result of a progress report required by Congress (Public Law 110-28) “not later than September 15, 2007.”

“No, the timing of the speech was important because almost four and a-half years after the United States invaded Iraq, the president was arguing that U.S. forces needed to be kept in Iraq into the next presidential term - and perhaps beyond that - because that country’s military, police and government are virtually nonexistent.”

[RWC] President Bush has been saying this for quite awhile. I hope the author doesn’t believe this is news.

“Basically, four and a half years have been wasted. Americans are still fighting and dying, being maimed and wounded, in an occupation that will continue for years if Bush gets his way.”

[RWC] Yep, President Bush wants the mission to continue. Do you understand what the editorial is claiming of a U.S. president?

“Bush, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other administration officials are responsible for this mess. They envisioned a quick victory and a quick exit from Iraq.

“In doing so, they ignored, and even scorned, the advice of high-ranking military officers, State Department officials and other experts who argued the United States needed to have a military force large enough to secure Iraq after Saddam Hussein was overthrown.”

[RWC] Of course, the editorial ignores the fact that not all of the “high-ranking military officers” agreed with the Times strategy.

“If Bush and his advisers had listened to the experts, chances are good he would not have had to deliver his address on Thursday. But they didn’t, and our nation, our military and the Iraqi people are reaping the bitter harvest of their hubris.”

[RWC] Mr. Bush did listen “to the experts,” just not the experts the Times approves of.

“Four and a half years down the road and we’re still starting from scratch in Iraq. That’s bad timing.”

[RWC] “[S]tarting from scratch?” One day I’d like to meet the editorial board.