Richard WarnickWill McCain Call It Defeat?
Condi Rice has agreed to a troop withdrawal timetable to end the occupation of Iraq.
The cowardly defeatocrats and cut ‘n’ runners have kicked ass. Declaring that the deal means “the left won the Iraq debate,” Spencer Ackerman notes that the withdrawal plan is nearly identical to the plan offered by the Center for American Progress.
The withdrawal timetable that they labeled “a surrender date” a little over a year ago is now Bush administration policy. Let’s say it again with feeling: WITHDRAWAL TIMETABLE.
Oh. My. God.
What will John McCain say? Via Think Progress:
– “If you pass a resolution…that dictates withdrawal and a time for withdrawal, all you’re doing is telling the enemy, ‘hang on, we’re leaving.’” [March 2007]
– “If you set a date for withdrawal, then the consequences of failure are catastrophic.” [8/20/07] (YouTube link)
– “An artificial timetable based on political expediency would have led to disaster and could still turn success into defeat.” [7/19/08]
– “They’ll come home with honor. And it won’t be just at a set timetable.” [7/22/08]
McCain repeatedly has rebuked Obama on Iraq. Campaigning Wednesday in New Mexico, he said Obama “has made it clear he values withdrawal from Iraq above victory in Iraq.”
Yesterday, Senator Obama said, “They are working on a plan that looks, lo and behold, like the plan that I’ve been advocating. I will encourage the administration to move forward with it.”
Matt Yglesias identifies the big winner from this deal:
[T]his is undoubtedly a triumph for Nouri al-Maliki. He’s managed to continue securing the short-term security benefits of an American military presence, but now without bearing the costs of being a supporter of an unpopular long-term presence. And beyond that, Maliki’s now succeeded through politics at doing what al-Sadr and various Sunni resistance groups couldn’t achieve through force of arms — he’s made the Americans promise to go!
And that’s not all. To sweeten the deal, Maliki gets almost $11 billion in U.S. weapon systems, including 140 Abrams tanks, hundreds of other armored vehicles and 24 attack helicopters. That might be enough to send the Peshmerga packing and get control of Kirkuk.
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Oh man! Now the apologists are going to have to rework their entire philosophy of how advocates of a withdrawal timeline are defeatists and hate America.
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
As hopeless as the McCain run appears, as pathetic as the regime support of all that is stoopid appears, as much as many of us REALLY want to be done with this criming, were the idiots to prevail and cheat ‘Johnny of an unknown number of houses’ into the presidency while at the same time yanking the rug from beneath him and shoving him in front of the bus. It would truely be THE END for the U.S.
Let the voters decide. Hey! Anymore, I carry a throw-up bag at all times.
August 22nd, 2008 at 11:14 pm
OBAMA - BIDEN!!!
August 23rd, 2008 at 6:37 am
It would be interesting to know if the Iraqi government wanted a shorter timetable. If our goal is to get out while leaving an Iraq that does not threaten us, this is a victory of sorts. Of course, Iraq never really threatened us before the invasion, so the achievement, while costly, is not that spectacular. If our goal is to leave an Iraq without hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths and millions of refugees, we already failed despite our best intentions.
The neocon dream is a permanent U.S. presence in the Middle East. It remains to be seen how that dream, which I consider a nightmare, ends.
August 23rd, 2008 at 10:14 am
Leo has got it. Victory in Iraq is now defined as not having the U.S. Army and Marines deployed there anymore. Which we could have achieved in 2003 at no cost by not invading Iraq.
August 23rd, 2008 at 11:53 am
Oh Marines’ll be in Iraq for a while yet…Housed in our sparkly new McEmbassy and sprawling new mega-bases.
August 24th, 2008 at 12:38 am
Too bad the “cut and run” strategy doesn’t happen until 2012. We needed to get out yesterday and then some. Of course maybe Cheeney and co. will start trying to convince us that we were never in Iraq, after all it’s no longer fashionable to invade other countries in the “21st century.” ;)