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It’s 2007, and we find ourselves rolling into the fifth year of George W’s misbegotten war in Iraq. So, let’s check who’s standing with Bush in what he calls his “noble cause” of pursuing a bloody policy of “victory,” no matter how long it takes or what it costs.
Oops – Donnie Rumsfeld jumped ship, Robert Gates is not on board, Bush’s own Iraq Study Group turned on him, and even the war-cheering Republicans in congress are backing away. Listen to the blunt, heartfelt honesty of GOP Sen. Gordon Smith, who broke with Bush last month: “I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal. I cannot support that anymore.”
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Meanwhile, check the latest polls. Seven out of 10 Americans (including a majority of Republicans) disapprove of Bush’s handing of the war, and six of 10 say the war is not worth fighting. He’s down to the support of Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh… and maybe his dog Barney. He’s lost all credibility on a war that he launched with lies and has run with mindless slogans and gross ineptitude.
Let me say it plainly: George Bush has lost this war, which he never should have started in the first place. It’s time to stop him. He has no plan except to keep sending fresh bodies to be killed. This is immoral.
This is Jim Hightower saying… The question is no longer about Bush. It’s about the Democrats in congress. No tweaking or finessing of Bush’s failed policy will work, nor is it morally defensible to make our men and women continue suffering and dying in what is now a civil war that our country’s presence only exacerbates. Bush has failed. Don’t let him throw a single other American body into his failure. Set a timetable now, Democrats – get our troops out of harms way.
Sources:
“The Time is Now,” The New York Times, December 12, 2006.
“Poll: 7 of 10 Americans Disapprove of Handling the Iraq War, Washington Post, December 12, 2006.
“President slips to all-time low in the Zogby poll as key demographic groups jump ship,” Zogby International, December 8, 2006.