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Iraq fiasco was indeed ‘Bush’s war’; Thomas Finch; Beaver County Times; January 26, 2011.
Mr. Finch’s letters never disappoint. As usual, his letter is little more than a string of leftist talking points. It’s at least the 27th anti-Bush and/or anti-Republican letter from Mr. Finch since December 2004. Here is one example. I wish he could get a regular column in the Times. I also wish he could get at least five minutes per day on a local radio and/or TV station.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Roger Strauss’s letter on Thursday objecting to Lonnie Cox’s reference to the war in Iraq as ‘Bush’s war’ makes the absurd allegation that just because Democrats voted to pass the war resolution, it meant they supported it.”
[RWC] It’s an “absurd allegation” to conclude representatives who voted for something “supported it?” When a letter starts off like this, it’s bound to be a doozy.
“This is the typical Republican, neo-con tactic of basing a conclusion on lies and half-truths, then presenting it as fact.”
[RWC] As I’ve written before, Mr. Finch likes to use the term “neo-con,” but he never defines it for us. If you’re familiar with Mr. Finch’s letter-writing body of work, you have to get a chuckle when he complains of “lies and half-truths, then presenting it as fact.”
“Democrats were in a no-win situation. At the time, everyone in America was still seething about the 9-11 tragedy, and everyone was looking for payback.”
[RWC] Didn’t the Afghanistan War address that?
“When your so-called leaders instigate a case for retribution - and label it ‘the war on terror’ - everyone buys into it so revenge can be exacted; and no one cares how contrived it is.
“Instead of standing by their own convictions, those in Congress had to vote for the war.
“Cowardly?
“Yes; but voting against it would get you labeled a ‘terrorist sympathizer’ and have been be political suicide.”
[RWC] So, Mr. Finch would prefer to label Democrats who voted for the Iraq War Resolution as gutless cowards rather than concede a fair number of Democrats supported the action? Wow! I believe this is another symptom of Bush Derangement Syndrome.
“Therefore, I support Cox’s contention that the Iraq fiasco was indeed ‘Bush’s war.’ The real heroes in this mess were the 132 representatives and 23 senators - mostly all Democrats - who voted against it.”
[RWC] I guess this means we should refer to the Korean War as Truman’s war, the Vietnam War as JFK’s/LBJ’s war, the Civil War as Lincoln’s war, et cetera. Since President Obama escalated the Afghanistan War, does that make it Obama’s war? As I’ve written before, all of our wars are wars of the United States, not of a given president.
“To call it ‘Hillary’s war’ is a false and idiotic exaggeration of the real facts.”
[RWC] I could be mistaken, but I believe Mr. Strauss was being humorous when he made that comment.
© 2004-2011 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.