Joe Klein: Think Twice About a Pullout
Joe Klein’s Time article is one of the best articles written in defense of winning in Iraq in quite some time. The best part, in my opinion, is his closing paragraph:
Murtha did not talk about the consequences of a precipitous withdrawal. No one really has. The most passionate discussions in Washington last week were about the past, whether the President intentionally misled the country into war, not the future. They are a waste of time. Two questions need to be addressed: Will an American withdrawal from Iraq create more or less stability in the Middle East? Will a withdrawal increase or decrease the threat of another terrorist attack at home? It does not matter whether you believe the war was right or wrong. If the answers to those questions are less stability and an empowered al-Qaeda, we’d better think twice about slipping down this dangerous path.
Joe isn’t quite right in saying that “No one really has” talked about the consequences of implementing the Murtha Retreat but he’s close. I’d say that few in the national media have spoken to that issue, though Hugh Hewitt, Fred Barnes, Bill Kristol, Michelle Malkin and the Powerline guys certainly have.
Joe’s also right in saying that we’d best consider the consequences of such a precipitous withdrawal and whether that would trigger a region-wide destabilization and whether that would eventually lead to more terrorist attacks here in the U.S. I’m afraid that the answers to those questions wouldn’t be good news here in the U.S.
It’s time to get serious again about winning the war in Iraq. That’s a far higher priority than so-called investigations into whether the President misled the nation into war. This is the time to work towards solutions, not towards regaining political power through stunts like the Murtha Retreat and the “Bush Lied, People Died” campaign.
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRing