Calling President Bush’s plan in Iraq a ‘failed strategy,’ Dean said he and most Democrats support bringing home an estimated 80,000 National Guard and reserve troops within the next six months.
He said that he backed the redeployment of 20,000 troops to Afghanistan and a force in the Middle East to deal with al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, but not in Iraq.
I know we’re going to win,” Bush told reporters at the White House. “Our troops need to hear not only are they supported, but that we have got a strategy that will win.”
Two different parties, two different men and two different outlooks. Which one do you prefer? As a soldier, I’m certainly not going to support the guy who tells me that it was all for nothing, let’s get out while the getting is good. All those deaths were meaningless. All those shattered limbs for nought. All you soldiers who fought, sweated, cried and worried in the dirt of Iraq – it doesn’t matter. All those children you passed candy and toys too – abandon them. All the water pipes you laid, all the generators you installed, all the buildings you built – abandon them. The Iraqis you trained – say goodbye, they’re on their own. Terrorism has won. The head choppers and their ilk are just too persistent for us.
Or, I could support the guy I didn’t vote for, President Bush, who despite all the things I disagree with him about, has my respect in this matter. Despite the long hours here, despite that fact that my feet hurt every day and I have a knot in my back the size of Texas. Regardless of the loud booms and the bags under my eyes. Despite missing my wife terribly and wishing I was someplace else half the time.
You can’t come to the game and then throw down the ball halfway through, give the bird to your teammates and walk off the field. Because that is what losers do.
The United States has no intention of determining the precise form of Iraq’s new government. That choice belongs to the Iraqi people. Yet, we will ensure that one brutal dictator is not replaced by another. All Iraqis must have a voice in the new government, and all citizens must have their rights protected.
Rebuilding Iraq will require a sustained commitment from many nations, including our own: we will remain in Iraq as long as necessary, and not a day more.”
President George W. Bush
Now go read the actual document outlining the plan for victory. Chew on it. Ponder it. Digest it. Then drop me a line if you have any questions. I’m just a sergeant but I know how to be a winner. I refuse to drop the ball and walk off the field.