Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Once You Start Running

I've long held that our Left supports the Afghan campaign only as a defense against being soft on defense so they can impose defeat on the Iraq campaign.

Canadian liberals who are under no burden of proving their defense credentials are clearly against the Afghan campaign. They apparently didn't get the "good war" versus "bad war" memo. Without the Iraq War, like their Canadian counter-parts, our Left would be free to be anti-war for Afghanistan, too. So logically, if they can end the Iraq War, the Afghan War won't be far off their target list.

I guess I was a little off in assuming that the Left would want a decent interval between declaring mission accomplished in the Iraq bugout before trying to undermine the "real war" against al Qaeda in Afghanistan (tip to Weekly Standard):


When they won control of Congress in November, Democrats pressed their case to withdraw troops from Iraq and refocus on Afghanistan, but some are growing impatient with U.S. operations in Afghanistan as well.

A few congressional Democrats go so far as suggesting that the Pentagon should pull out of Afghanistan now, while others say that troop withdrawal will be addressed after the military is out of Iraq.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), a senior defense authorizer, wants the U.S. out of Afghanistan immediately, calling operations there “futile” in trying to effect political change in a country with a tangled history.

Most other Democrats want to focus on Afghanistan, with the goal of withdrawing the military down the road after the country is stabilized and any new Taliban resurgence quashed.

With a few exceptions, congressional Democrats no longer show any hesitation about withdrawing the military from Iraq. But they are more circumspect about Afghanistan, saying that the Bush administration let the situation worsen by shifting attention onto a protracted conflict in Iraq.


And even Republicans are shamefully putting on their running shoes.

Once you work up a head of steam running away, it is tough to stop the momentum.