The GOP have backed themselves into a corner with "Cut and Run"

The GOP have been using this "Cut and Run" phrase to characterize Murtha and all who advocate for any kind of pullout or drawdown in Iraq.

In doing so, they have Jumped the Shark, Screwed the Pooch and put themselves and the Bush administration into a No-Win Catch 22 position.

It has become incteaseingly clear -- even to Hawks like Murtha -- that there is no logical "end point" in Iraq. There is nothing that can happen that will enable us to leave without "cutting and running." Even if the Iraqis manage to put up some kind of government, the country will continue to be plagued by terrorism, civil and tribal polarization and residual devestation.

The Neo-CONS have already "won," in terms of getting rid of Sadaam and ensuring that he will not use WMD's against us. Mission Accomplished. If they had been smart, they would have "declared victory and come home" much earlier.

But everything that happened since the invasion has created a new chain of events that make it impossible for there to EVER be a time we can leave without "cutting and running." We can never achieve "victory" there, because one victory will continue to be accompanied by equal or greaster setbacks and defeats.

Therefore, according to the GOP's OWN definitions, it will be impossible to ever leave Iraq without "cutting and running." And that means it is impossible for their OWN president and their own Congress to avoid "cutting and running" at some point.

So the smarty pants Republicans have backed themselves into a corner that prevents their own government from being able to do anything to reduce US presence in Iraq without being open to their own "cut and run" claims.

That, IMO, is the real trap they have created for themselves. Their attempts to smear Murtha have only intensified their own self-created Catch 22.

the US to establish dominion and influence in the Middle East.

The WMDs, Saddam etc. were just a pretext for going there.

If that's how the GOP wants to define "cut and run," they need look no further than following the bombing of the Marines' barracks in Beirut which killed 241 Marines. The U.S. left Lebanon to their own devices, civil war, hell or high water.

And yet, how strange it is, the GOP and their convenient memories and lack of historical perspective.

Their goal is US dominance of the Middle East. They DON'T INTEND TO LEAVE.

What they will do is draw down the US occupation forces by 50 to 75 thousand before the 2006 elections. That way the sheeple will feel like Bush is doing the right thing.

Last night's vote was a major victory for the Republicans. They have now got the Democrats on record as "opposing" a quick withdrawal. The Democrats cannot, now run against the Iraq fiasco in 2006. They've been Kerry'd.

many think it will be considered a cheap poitical stunt, which it was.

They won't remember the stunt. The Repugs and corporate media will make sure the Dems get pounded on this. You mark my words! Like the IWR we won't have an effective response.

hell they will care about the lastest football game, not congress.

Those of us who are paying attetnion raelize what happened last night, and if yuo play chess, you'll get it.. the stun backfired

You are correct. The neo-CONS wanted to establish a base of opertations and influence in Iraq that would allow us to maintain a perpetual presence there.

But THEY FAILED. They miscalculated, and thought that after token resistence, we would be able to do that with the acquiescence of the Iraqis. They thought it was post-war Europe or post-war Japan. But it isn't, and will never be.

ALSO, THE NEO-cons have undermined the very basis of the power they base their ideology on. In order to succeed, the Imperial Empire must appear to be invincible. The neo-CONS made the fatal mistake of believing their own hype. They actually thought the US could knock off this tinhorn dictator easily, and thus reinforce our power and domionance.

Instead it has had the opposite effect. We got rid of Sadaam, but we are being bogged down, depleted and demoralized by a relatively small group of thugs and insurgents in Iraq. We simply don't have the resources for empire-building. So instead of looking to the world like the All-Powerful USA, we are now seen as a pitiful, helpless giant in the eyes of the world.

The neo-CONS may continue deluding themselves that they can just "wait it out." But there's anotehr small glitch in their plans. The American People do not have inexhaustable patience. They may be slow to catch on, but once they do, they will either demand that the neo-CONS either "cut and run" or they will throw the bastids out of office and positions of influence.

They can't keep justifying our presence there forever. People will wise up -- ARE wising up.

That's one reason i say they have boxed themselves into a corner.

until (I am paraphrasing a local county official) we just "kill em off and take the oil like we planned".

which is confounding. The rail on the floor of congress for bush's policies while he is out of the country but none of them want him to campaign for them. They have cut and run from the man while embracing his policies.

..well, then, what was that whole "Mission Accomplished" thing??

Can we get them to admit that it was nothing more then a photo op then? I'm sick of this "cutting and running" thing.. are the GOP really advocating that they'd rather see MORE death and destruction?? Instead of speaking for the troops, why don't they ask them themselves whether they think it's a bad idea?

God, I hate these people.. if only we could have some real media in this country, so the people can see for themselves just how much we've destroyed these countries and how many people we've killed! :grr:

Rover might have wound up handing us one of the most potent campaign images we could possibly have, considering today's political climate. Rub their !@#$%^*() faces in it.

before the 06 midterm elections so all this fuckin tough talk is just painting them further into the corner. Even if they employ the famous Vietnam "Aiken strategy" (declare victory and bring the troops home) it will raise the question of why it wasn't done before 2000+ Americans died.

But that plan is unworkable.

I think the neocons' single biggest flaw is that they simply underestimate the population. If Straussian political ideas appeal to them, that's no surprise.

They seem to think the public is just a big, stupid, docile cow that will believe anything it's told by it's leaders. They were shocked to find that the Iraqi populace didn't believe their bullshit. Now they're shocked that the American public is also waking up.

They're fucked. They have no plan for dealing with popular revolts, because they've simply never considered the populace as anything more than livestock.

I'm sure in their elitist/Orwellian view, they believe that all they have to do is keep repeating a false "fact" until it becomes a fact in the public mind.

Problem with that is that when the real facxts start to ourweigh the bullshit, people are able -- at some point -- to see the difference.

"Victory" in Iraq sounded attainable and desirable to people when it was just a goal that was being sold to justify a war. However, at a certain point, people really don't their nation to get caught in a perpetually shifting war with Eurasia/Eastasia/Eurasia ad nauseum.

Here's Congresswoman Schmidt with Colonel Bubp. Appears they've worked together before.




Rev. Rob Schenck recently joined church leaders in Adams County, Ohio, in granting the Ten Commandments Leadership Award to Ohio State Senator Danny Bubp and first term U.S. Representative Jean Schmidt. Senator Bubp and Congresswoman Schmidt have been stalwart champions of public displays of the Ten Commandments in Ohio and around the country. The ceremony was held at one of the public high schools where the ACLU won a court order to have stone monuments pulled from the ground and forcibly removed. The group stood in front of the empty space where the monument once stood.

From left to right are Rev. Phil Fulton (the first pastor in America to be arrested protecting a 10 Commandments display), Senator Danny Bubp, The Reverend Dr. Kenneth Johnson, Pastor Tom Claiborne, Congresswoman Jean Schmidt and Rev. Rob Schenck.

http://www.faithandaction.org/110705OhioTenCommAward.htm

In that photo, Schmidt has one of those "Hurry up and snap the shutter so I can get this goddamn smile off my face."

Last night this "truly" became the Republican Party's war. They cannot escape the outcome on this one.

did several thngs

1.- got the damn debate going

2.- They check mated themselves,

It was a beauty to behond... and I am sure Hastert is starting to realize it, especially after Case turns his draw down plan to SecDef same day...

Absolutely nothing strikes more fear in the boardrooms of global corporatism than the prospect of a "Pan-Arab" or "Pan-Islamic" populist megapower. (They don't want "democracy!") Global corporatists want 'cooperative' strongman rulers and bounded warlords in the Middle East. The very last thing they want is a unified, populist Middle East that regards their natural resources as national resources. This is why they've propped up the Shah, the Saud family, Saddam and the Baathists, King Hussein, and ceded Syria and the 'stans to the Soviet bloc. None of the autocratic regimes they've propped up have violated the rules of a global organized crime family and survived. They've complied with the territoriality rules. When they didn't they were toppled. It's Mafia House Rules.

The overarching "mission" is continued control and privatization of energy resources. The tactics have been divisive - separatism. The tools have been destabilization, assassination, revolution, and invasion. (Make no mistake - OPEC is a subsidary of global corporatism.)