Hagel, Like Dems, Totally Idea-Free

Sen. Chuck Hagel has joined forces with Nancy Pelosi, saying victory is not in the cards in Iraq. In a WaPo editorial, he says it a bit differently ...

There will be no victory or defeat for the United States in Iraq. These terms do not reflect the reality of what is going to happen there. The future of Iraq was always going to be determined by the Iraqis -- not the Americans.

... but it's the same thought: A powerless America cannot, and should not, continue to try to promote Democracy as an alternative to Islamic theocratic dictatorships.

And yet, Hagel lets a mere handful of paragraphs go by before saying:

The Middle East is more combustible today than ever before, and until we are able to lead a renewal of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, mindless destruction and slaughter will continue in Lebanon, Israel and across the Middle East.

I'm sorry; I don't get it. Any fruitful Israeli-Palestinian settlement will require some form of stable, reprpesentative government in Palestine. That's obviously what's been missing thus far, so Hagel is pushing us to impose our will on the Palestinians but not on the Iraqis -- and to do it without troops in Palestine. Similarly, a peaceful, democratic Lebanon is impossible so long as there is a brutal, expanisionist, freedom-squelching Syria next door.

He obviously can't make an honest point, yet he keeps making them: Muslims think we're fighting Islam, our stature is declining, the war is destroying our own military infrastructure, it is funded "dishonestly."

Add it all up and it's nothing more than cut and run without a plan. Hagel, like the Dems, just hopes the Baker committee will come up with a magic abracadabra spell, Bush and Murtha will join hands in excited brotherhood, and all the world will see our exit from Iraq as honorable and right.

That won't happen, especially the part about the world seeing our exit as honorable. Europe will gleefully see us as weak and incompetent. The Islamofascists will glorify in it, because they will read it as nothing short of a full victory of fascist powers over freedom. Iraq will get worse, not better.

Hagel, if you're going to attack your party, your president and our military, do it with honor: Have an idea that's better. If you can't do that, your call for an honest withdrawal is dishonest.

Related Tags: Hegel, Iraq, War on terror, Bush