Clinton Hammered for Surrender Rhetoric
Yes, when politicians in America spout off, the enemy is listening.
The Pentagon told Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton that her questions about how the U.S. plans to eventually withdraw from Iraq boosts enemy propaganda.
In a stinging rebuke to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman responded to questions Clinton raised in May in which she urged the Pentagon to start planning now for the withdrawal of American forces.
A copy of Edelman’s response, dated July 16, was obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.
“Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia,” Edelman wrote.
He added that “such talk understandably unnerves the very same Iraqi allies we are asking to assume enormous personal risks.”
My point is not to criticize Clinton’s position - whatever it is today. She is certainly free to hold whatever opinions she wants, even if she’s wrong. But she must also recognize that whatever she says in public is also heard by America’s enemies and may affect how their morale and actions.
My point is not to criticize Owen’s position - whatever it is today. (Note to self: Huzzah! I am so sneaky, saying I’m not criticizing, yet I am!) Owen is certainly free to hold whatever opinions he wants, even if he’s wrong, or even if he’s blindly repeating the President’s talking points. But he must also recognize that whatever he says in public is also heard by America’s enemies and may affect their morale and actions.
Because, after all, al Qaeda relies on Hillary and Owen the most. We can’t show them that our freedom of speech matters more than what our enemies might decide to think about what we say. People here should not be able to criticize what our government does. We have to show our enemies that we, too, can blindy parrot our leaders, just as surely as they do. Maybe even more, because we’re ‘Mericans. Loose blog lips sink ships! We shan’t go around saying things like “Bring it on!” because that might bolster their morale and encourage them to attack us, as if we’d dared them. We can’t allow even one person to say things like “Leave Iraq.” It’s a good thing there aren’t any other people saying we should leave Iraq, because al Qaeda might hear them. And you’d think Hillary would be more sensitive about saying things like this, things that no one should hear and that no one else will say and that no one else believes, especially when she’s running for President and all.
Posted by John Foust on July 19, 2007 at 1946 hrsAre you being willfully idiotic to make some sort of esoteric point, or is that all you got?
Posted by Owen on July 19, 2007 at 1947 hrsI’m sure there’s a point underneath all that other stuff, but dang if I’m motivated enough to dig it out.
Posted by Tony Turner on July 19, 2007 at 2058 hrsMany of those “enemies” happen to be Saudis, which Bush and Cheney talk to alot. When does the bombing commence on Riyadh?
Posted by on July 20, 2007 at 0716 hrsThis is simply more of the administration’s “If you don’t want to do things exactly the way we want to do them, then you want to surrender to the terrorists” rhetoric. The last I checked, 70% of the American public wasn’t falling for it any more.
Posted by on July 20, 2007 at 1052 hrsHere’s what Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said:
“I believe that the debate here on the Hill and the issues that have been raised have been helpful in bringing pressure to bear on the Maliki government and on the Iraqis in knowing that there is a very real limit to American patience in this entire enterprise.”
In other words, freedom works, even in wartime.
Gates is right. Eric Edelman is wrong. Dangerously wrong.
Posted by on July 20, 2007 at 1542 hrsI’m not a big Hillary fan but she sure sunk that swift boating.
Posted by on July 20, 2007 at 1919 hrs
Ol' Army
