Here are some especially bothersome portions, and much bothers me so I'm giving you a large chunk, of this GOP cheat sheet:
Great debate topics! Yet if they were really examined, with even GOP Rep. Walter "Freedom Fries" Jones of North Carolina accepting that you punked everybody with promises of a "full and honest debate", I'm thinking you guys, and regrettably a few Democrats as well, have some serious 'splaining to do. That the GOP still has the cajones (Or a understanding of how limited many of their constituents are?) to claim or even imply that Iraq had any connection to 9-11 is amazing. "Plotting and planning" is what this memo reveals the GOP is up to and once again Hussein had NO INVOLVEMENT in 9-11! I guess they may have accepted "Not all conservatives are stupid people yet most stupid people are conservatives!" as they are surely seem to be going for the stupid vote with this strategy. How many times is 9-11 mentioned. Sort of like when Dubyah said "freedom" or a variant so often during his last (Yeah!) swearing in.It is imperative during this debate that we re-examine the conditions that required the United States to take military action in Afghanistan and Iraq in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The attacks we witnessed that day serve as a reminder of the dangers we face as a nation in a post-9/11 world. We can no longer expect oceans between us and our enemies to keep us safe. The plotting and planning taking place in terror camps protected by rogue regimes could no longer go unchecked or unchallenged. In a post-9/11 world, we could no longer allow despots and dictators like the Taliban and Saddam Hussein to ignore international sanctions and resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council.
So, during this debate we must make clear to the American people that the United States had to take action in the best interests of the security of our nation and the world community. As Republicans who supported military action against Saddam Hussein and terrorists around the globe, the United States had to show our resolve as the world's premier defender of freedom and liberty before such ideals were preyed upon, rather than after standing witness to their demise at the hands of our enemies
"Show our resolve" or demonstrate how weak we really are? Because the way this Corporate and most importantly optional war in Iraq was carried out has shown how boots on the ground in foreign lands often simply doesn't work, especially when Rummy is determined to show how smart he is by ignoring RAND and professional soldiers on the numbers of boots needed.
That Bu$hCo has botched the operation of course is a given yet going back to the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) on Iraq many, on the left certainly as well as some on the right, believed this White House was going to show some measure of restraint and diplomacy. Many supported Dubyah then, although a few such as Russ Feingold were rightly reluctant to give him such a blank check, and now that his administration has demonstrated over and over their incompetence and radical nature a few are calling for answers to the many, many questions that remain.
Freedom and liberty are seriously threatened by this radical administration yet you certainly want to talk of enemies causing the demise of our ideals. Only because your President and this Rubber Stamp Congress has been the ones in charge during this response to 9-11 is this happening in Iraq. Given how this White House and Rubber Stamp Congress has trashed our laws and tradition, that the terrorist have scored at least a partial victory could be argued. Once again, Saddam Hussein was in no way, shape, form, or fashion involved in 9-11! He was effectively isolated. Given just a little more patience and diplomacy we could have truly liberated the Iraqi people as right now they've had about all the liberating they can stand.
Low grade civil war, Shia law, alliances with Iran's Shiites, hardly any electricity or infrastructure, very limited oil production, thousands of deaths, Abu Ghraid and Haditha and Gitmo and ..., women losing many of their rights, Green Zones, prisons controlled by Iraqi militias that are hardly above settling old scores, mercenaries for outsourcing of many security functions, Halliburton and other corporate profiteering, etc.
So Bu$hCo and his Neo-Cons wanted and made their war. Rich man's war and poor man's fight once again. As for your questions, bring it on! Let's call for real investigations and not settle for this political stunt. We are up to 2500 KIA just yesterday. I grieve for these men and women and their families. You bastards! You liars! You wrap yourself in the flag when flag covered coffins have been the result of this war of choice.
"Waver endlessly"? Is caution on killing a bad thing? Weak approach? "Use of force to protect American ideals" is fantasy. You hardly protect, or promote I'd add, "ideals" with military force you twit. PNAC and the neo-cons even realize this I think, now being better than never I guess. Confront dangerous regimes? Like the Somalia warlords we had been cozying up to and funding recently? Or the oil/resource rich repressive governments of the former Soviet Union located near Southwest Asia? What about the Saudi and Egyptian governments? Right now we've got an oil crunch and there is often a reverse correlation between oil prices and freedom in many of these areas. Your team isn't doing a real good job with the "freedom thing" yet we mostly know it is all cover for the failure to find WMD don't we. Yet I'm still not so sure if the PNAC's kewl kids would have figured some way into Iraq even without 9-11.This debate in the House of Representatives gives our Republican Conference the opportunity to present the American people our case for strong national security policies whose purpose is to protect the nation against another attack on our own soil.
Similarly, we must conduct this debate as a portrait of contrasts between Republicans and Democrats with regard to one of the most important political issues of our era. Articulating and advocating our core principles will allow the American public to witness Members of Congress debate a fundamental question facing America's leaders:
In a post-9/11 world, do we confront dangerous regimes and the threat of terrorism with strength and resolve, or do we instead abandon our efforts against these threats in the hopes that they will just fade away on their own?
Republicans believe victory in Iraq will be an important blow to terrorism and the threat it poses around the world. Democrats, on the other hand, are prone to waver endlessly about the use of force to protect American ideals. Capitol Hill Democrats' only specific policy proposals are to concede defeat on the battlefield and instead, merely manage the threat of terrorism and the danger it poses.
These are troubling policies to embrace in a post-9/11 world. During this debate, we need to clarify just how wrong the Democrats' weak approach is and just how dangerous their implementation would be to both the short-term and long-term national security interests of the United States.
Your boy messed this Iraq thing up and Democrats, while scattered about as they are prone to do since they don't get their marching orders from Karl Rove, are simply seeking to make Iraq less of a disaster. That seeking of a better way is a bad thing shows us what the GOP is all about now I'd argue. Again, your guys and gals created this quagmire and yet you have the gall to now say critics that are seeking solutions are weak!
"Manage" the threat of terror is all anyone can do! This is geo-politics 101 and yet the American public, although in increasingly shrinking margins, continues to fall for the "fight them over there to keep from fighting them over here" line. Fighting terrorist in Iraq is simply because they are there now. Few were before the arrival of the US. Insurgents that want us to leave or pull back (or are fighting for control of Iraq or trying to make a living in an increasingly harsh locale or ...) are not really part of the so called GWOT and to suggest so is downright low. Tan Man, your folks have created generations of terrorists with their actions in Iraq and then also in Afghanistan by pulling down force levels too quickly to head off into the Persian Gulf. Don't even mention the consequences to the Treasury and how we'll be paying for the treatment, medical care, worn out equipment, ... for many years to come.
As a result of our efforts during this debate, Americans will recognize that on the issue of national security, they have a clear choice between a Republican Party aware of the stakes and dedicated to victory, versus a Democrat Party without a coherent national security policy that sheepishly dismisses the challenges America faces in a post- 9/11 world."Sheepishly dismisses the challenges America faces in the post-9-11 world"? Coherence at least has some grain of truth but remember we are the minority party. You guys don't do bi-partisan so don't start down that road. Your Bu$hCo militarism got us into Iraq, and although some realism is starting to creep into this administration over Iran and North Korea and Russia and India and Egypt and ..., the fact is this President and his whole team has not only squandered the good will and opportunities we had after the tragedy of 2001 but has damaged our ability to help lead the world in this post Cold War era.
Complexity isn't much for your team I know yet spinning this surely can't work. Bu$h has governed above the law and his arrogance knows no limits. His lack of intellectual curiosity and value of loyalty over competency is a given to any rational observer. With approval ratings for Team Bu$h steadily dropping down into the thirties I'd be scared as well. Many lefty folks intend to keep hammering on your President and your party of hubris until he/you are removed from the stage. It is time for the grown ups, even those few that remain on the right, to get back in control of the ship of state. It isn't personal John and W and Dick and Rummy and ... It's about the leadership and policies and the future.
But Tan Man we're stuck with Bu$h for now. If Democrats are smart they'll make this election about Dubyah and his Mayberry Machiavellians. Hopefully Democratic majorities in one or better yet both houses can slow down this White House enough to where we might manage with Bu$h these last two years. W has done enough damage and Americans have a clear choice indeed on enabling the GOP to continue running this nation into ruin. I think this "Win the GWOT" dog of a resolution won't hunt John. Americans, even as as poorly informed they are, are even realizing the emperor has no clothes ... even if the Rubber Stamp Congress refuses to cover his nakedness.
You gain allies by further screwing up a country that was already screwed up? Right? Am I missing something? Nothing but tyranny and despotism? Like the Saudi and UAE and Jordanian (I'm actually rather accepting of the Jordanian approach and believe that they are mostly strong allies in the region!) and ... leaders that we are bosum buddies with? "Crusade" doesn't really play that well in this region you know John so when we occupy land here you can imagine how dicey things get. Colonialism is also another nasty fact of how the Western world has exploited this land so if the average person in this neck of the woods isn't real happy to see our soldiers there seems to make a little sense.Let there be no doubt that America and its allies in the war in Iraq and the Global War on Terrorism face difficult challenges. The American people are understandably concerned about our mission in a post-Saddam Iraq. There have been many tough days since Iraq's liberation and transition to a sovereign democracy.
Democrats are all too eager to seize upon the challenges we face as their rationale or motivation for retreat. As Republicans, we understand the diplomatic and national security hazards of such a move. We must echo the American public's understanding of just how great the stakes are in Iraq and our long-term efforts to win the War on Terrorism.
Building democracies in a part of the world that has known nothing but tyranny and despotism is a difficult task. But achieving victory there and gaining democratic allies in the region will be the best gift of security we can give to future generations of Americans.
"Retreat"? Who wants to retreat? I love how you guys are already gearing up for blaming the left or the media or ... for goofing things up in Iraq but this is the GOP's baby. As Powell is reported to have said, "You break it then you own it." yet Bu$hCo handed medals and/or promotions to the bunch that did most of the breaking. "All to eager ..."My gracious! We've bent over backwards to support this President, despite the many reservations we rightly had about this lightweight and his cabal. We, or at least most of the lefty set, choose to support the troops and most importantly the good of this nation and our world by looking for ways out of the wilderness.
Prediction/Analysis - After November's elections, Bu$h will be abandoned by the Corporate side of the GOP yet for right now you guys are trying a last ditch effort to save his/your hide. You have little to run on yet this "strength" and "fear" has always been your best pitch. You know if even one chamber flips then investigations can start up. And then, once Bu$hCo and you Rubber Stampers are out in the light, electing Republicans is going to be tough except in the reddest of red states. The whole memo reads to me as an effort to rally the troops for the last ditch effort to stave off chaos for your team if the Democrats can then actually have a "full and honest" debate. Hearings and subpoena powers I expect gives many ReThuglicans sleepless nights.
Your folks are on the ropes so I understand the idea of better circle the wagons. Send Dead Eye on with Vannity at Faux news. Of course Surly Sean didn't ask The Dick about the "last throes" or any of his other "about to turn the corner" talk. Provision the 101st Fighting Keyboardists and the 82nd Chairborne. I hear they like cheese puffs with their blogging points! Tune the Mighty Wurlitzer since this fall she's going to need to be perfect. Show the fundamentalist base a little heterosexual love. Stir up the paleos fear of the brown people with some immigration action. Flag burning is always something that can rally the patriots. Remind Diebold of the deal. Get the Swift Boaters in the water and fueled up. 527s need to locked and loaded. Even let Karl Rove, fresh from escaping (I'm going with him dropping on Dick for the time being as my theory) Irishman's noose it appears, talk of Jack Murtha and John Kerry, who saw hard combat unlike so many of the GOP team, talk of shirking duty when the bullets were flying long into the tough battles. That a whiny, titty-baby, fat ass, liar like Karl Rove can get up and go after these two warriors simply amazes me.
That's the GOP way it seems. Take your own weakness and then use it as a weapon by projecting the problem onto your opponent. Hardball politics that the DC Dems and their Consultant Class can't seem to work around yet will not confront. But to have your GOP controlled Congress engaging in a purely political "debate" that is essentially an election year stunt stagecrafted by Karl Rove and his minions simply floors me.
Worst administration ever! Worst Congress ever! Peace ... or War!
Update - afternoon of 6/16/06 - Tim Grieve of Salon's War Room gives us additional details of the gamesmanship of the ReThuglican "leadership" and how the votes came down.
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