Safer? Damifino
Having learned a lesson from the abysmal display put on by their House counterparts, the Senate's turn at grilling Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker today was a far more in depth affair. Senator after Senator posited questions to the duo, each one more thought provoking than the last. But the one garnering the most attention was the question by Republican Senator John Warner who asked if our efforts in Iraq are making us safer.
The General's response? "I don't know."
And even though he tried to backpeddle later on, it was a damning admission nonetheless. Because for the last four years, whenever the issue of whether the war in Iraq has made the US safer has come up, the Bushies have always answered with an emphatic "yes". Anytime someone would question that assertion, they were derisively criticized.
But that really is the 64K question isn't it? In the wake of the September 11th attacks, the overriding question that has driven our foreign policy has always been "Does this make us safer?" When applied to the war Iraq, the answer is almost assuredly no. Because not only has it distracted from the fight to root out those that actually attacked us and allowed them to regroup, but it has also lead to the radicalization of an entire generation of Muslim youths who will no longer view the US as a benevolent force in the world
Bush likes to say that we are "safer but not yet safe". Thanks to the war in Iraq, we are likely to be in the "not yet" category for some time.
(Filed at State of the Day and All Spin Zone)
The General's response? "I don't know."
And even though he tried to backpeddle later on, it was a damning admission nonetheless. Because for the last four years, whenever the issue of whether the war in Iraq has made the US safer has come up, the Bushies have always answered with an emphatic "yes". Anytime someone would question that assertion, they were derisively criticized.
But that really is the 64K question isn't it? In the wake of the September 11th attacks, the overriding question that has driven our foreign policy has always been "Does this make us safer?" When applied to the war Iraq, the answer is almost assuredly no. Because not only has it distracted from the fight to root out those that actually attacked us and allowed them to regroup, but it has also lead to the radicalization of an entire generation of Muslim youths who will no longer view the US as a benevolent force in the world
Bush likes to say that we are "safer but not yet safe". Thanks to the war in Iraq, we are likely to be in the "not yet" category for some time.
(Filed at State of the Day and All Spin Zone)
Post a Comment