Once More Dear Friends...

At various points throughout Bush's speech I was struck by how the most basic ideas were being held forth as a "new way forward:" the President discussed the need to send more troops so we could both clear an area of insurgents and hold it; he described holding the Iraqi government to benchmarks as a way of ensuring their cooperation in this new path forward; the President said he told Prime Minister Maliki that our commitment to Iraq is not open-ended.

If this is our new plan, what were we using before? Why didn't we have enough troops to hold the areas that had been cleared? Why did we once think that the rhetoric of standing down as the Iraqis stood up could substitute for benchmarks? And when did saying we would stay as long as the job would take and not a day longer become an inadequate measure of how long this endeavour would take? For President Bush to simply say that "Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me," is wholly inadequate.

I don't say this simply out pique or sour grapes. My incredulity and anger aren't motivated by a desire to maintain the "negative spin" on Iraq. I say this as a veteran of the First Gulf War who fought at the battles of 73 and and 74 Easting. I say this as someone who has seen combat and who, since that sick feeling formed in the pit of his stomach the first day he heard we would invade, has had his worst fears realized. The chaos, destruction, and death that our troops have been through, and that the Iraqis have had visited upon them, deserves a more heartfelt and meaningful explanation than has been delivered to us tonight by the man who acts as our leader.

And our leader's explanation, or rather its lack of substance, isn't simply a matter of rhetoric (or mollifying a cranky vet for that matter). It's about sound foreign policy: this was President Bush's opportunity to show that he could be trusted to find a way out of this. This was his opportunity to show that he had heard and understood the November elections and that he respected the will of the people. After all, how can we trust someone who can't adequately explain his gross and manifold failings to get the job right this time? How can we in good conscience expect someone who only now is finally beginning to adopt the most basic logical and military principles to be capable of leading? We have no evidence to believe that the President's new plan is any better than what's gotten us where we are now. And just as bad, if not worse, we have to wonder how he can hope to spread democracy abroad if he doesn't understand how it works at home?

When I was sent to war by Bush Sr. I was given a real plan, real support, and real leadership; I'm afraid our troops are still waiting for their fair share, even as they are being sent back into the breach.