Terry McGaffic – 3/25/08

This page was last updated on March 26, 2008.

Ignore rosy scenarios on Iraq; Terry McGaffic; Beaver County Times; March 25, 2008.

Mr. McGaffic wrote a previous letter on this topic.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Last week, Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Vice President Dick Cheney were in Iraq telling us how good it is going.”

[RWC] In case Mr. McGaffic has missed it, most news outlets have reported an improved situation in Iraq for at least several months. That’s why the number of news reports from Iraq are down drastically (Good news in Iraq is bad news for most of the media.) and why Iraq isn’t the central issue in the Democrat primary that you would expect it to be.

“On that same day in Baghdad, two soldiers my boy is serving with in the Army were killed by a IED.”

[RWC] I wonder if Mr. McGaffic’s son shares the opinions expressed by his father. I expect that if he did, Mr. McGaffic’s son would not have enlisted and/or reenlisted. Regardless, Mr. McGaffic’s son is a brave man and I hope he returns safely.

“The public should hear the real truth about what is going on with the war, not made-up rosy scenarios by inept, uncaring politicians. Cheney now says he does not care what two-thirds of all Americans think about the Bush administration’s handling of the war or the billions of dollars spent every month.”

[RWC] I don’t know where Mr. McGaffic gets his news, but I’ve heard no one describe “rosy scenarios” in Iraq. Outlets all across the spectrum have reported the improvements in Iraq as a result of the troop surge, so I don’t see how Mr. McGaffic can credibly assert the improvements are “made-up.”

“He compares Bush to Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. That’s crazy. Bring our troops home.”

[RWC] Wow, Abraham Lincoln sure has been popular recently! In addition to this example, over the past week I saw three examples of people trying to link Barack Obama and Mr. Lincoln.

As in his previous letter, in which Mr. McGaffic didn’t mention his son, he didn’t provide any “strategy” other than “Bring our troops home.” What does Mr. McGaffic believe would happen if we simply chose to cut and run?