You'd think that if the war is as clearly unpopular with the American people as the Left insists it is (outside of campus history department faculty lounges) that they could clearly state that they want to retreat and lose the war.
But no, they haven't done that in the last 14 months of controlling Congress. Indeed, during the 2006 election campaign they explicitly rejected retreat. Now, of course, they claim that they have a mandate from that election to get out now, lose, and damn the consequences.
Instead of debating retreat versus victory, they offer constraints on the military that would in practice compel retreat, but which don't explicitly say that. These efforts have gone nowhere.
But even given the history of the strenuous efforts to lose the Iraq War, the latest effort is such a laugh that I don't even worry that it could fool people:
Congressional Democrats searching for a message that will resonate on the Iraq war are preparing an argument that getting troops out of the conflict is the only way to rebuild a spent military.
It’s a less ambitious argument than the “Out-of-Iraq now” proposals put forward last year, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other top Democrats believe it will allow the party to criticize the war without being seen as criticizing those fighting it. It could also help Democrats to portray themselves as protecting the military and national security.
They are going to argue with a straight face that they want to get out of Iraq now in order to rebuild the military so it can be used elsewhere? This proposal will allow them to portray themselves as "protecting the military and national security"? Not that they care about actually protecting the military and national security--they just want to be able to portray themselves that way.
Seriously. That's what they are going to argue. I laughed so hard it hurt.
Who do they think they are fooling? We are already fighting enemies in Iraq with comic-book levels of evil in their hatred of all things the West cherishes. They fight in such a depraved manner, taking joy in the most cruel forms of torture and murder, that it would be difficult for a movie to have villains this evil and remain believable.
Just who would these people in Congress be willing to fight with their retooled military once freed of the awful constraints imposed by the Iraq War? It's like arguing in January 1945 that our focus on Nazi Germany made us unable to respond elsewhere, so we'd best end that war to rebuild our military to be ready for other threats.
This proposal doesn't pass the laugh test. And maybe it's time to remind people of the old Samuel Johnson statement that false patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
