Comebacks and Counterattacks: The War In Iraq and Republican Obstruction

Published on OurFuture.org (http://www.ourfuture.org)

Comebacks and Counterattacks: The War In Iraq and Republican Obstruction

THEY SAY	WE SAY
We need to fight them there so we won't need to fight them here. Iraq is a key battleground in the war on terror.	The war in Iraq has made us less safe. The U.S. official concludes that the war in Iraq has increased Islamic radicalism, and has made the terror threat around the world worse. The number of incidents worldwide tripled in the year after the war started, and a bipartisan survey of national security experts says the war in Iraq is making the world more dangerous for Americans.
We need to stay the course. We can't cut and run.	The current strategy is failing. The sooner we recognize that and make changes, the more chance we have of success. Nobody is planning an immediate headlong flight. What's needed is a deliberate, orderly transition. Iraqis need to manage their own affairs. We can’t referee their civil war. of Americans and of Iraqis want a timetable for withdrawal. That's not running away. That's listening.
You aren't supporting the troops.	We are supporting the troops by bringing them home. Republicans defeated by filibuster even for soldiers and National Guard who served far longer than they ever expected to.
Give us more time.	The war has gone on for four years, longer than U.S. involvement in World War II. But Bush keeps asking for more time. The so-called "surge" was supposed to be the last ask, and Bush said he needed until September to see if it worked. Now as September approaches, . Enough is enough.
We can't back down to terrorists.	There is no military solution to problems in Iraq. A diplomatic solution is long overdue. We need to regroup with our allies, revisit the Iraq Study Group and cooperate with the Iraqis.
The do-nothing Democratic Congress can't get anything done.	Republican stonewalling has reached historic proportions. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's "Six in '06" – bills with broad, bipartisan support -- passed quickly out of the House, then it hit filibusters in the Senate. . When Democrats threatened to filibuster extreme right-wing judicial appointments (while passing other judicial appointments), Now they threaten to filibuster .

Read "The Real Cost of the Iraq War" [1]
More facts and perspectives on Iraq and national security are on our Real Security [2] page.

Links:
[1] http://www.ourfuture.org/real-cost-iraq-war
[2] http://www.ourfuture.org/realsecurity