While the Senate condemned MoveOn.org, I think the majority of those voted for this condemnation realize that MoveOn has a point. But politicians have to say what they have to say to save their careers. For almost all organizations, we have yard sticks that would help us gauge if they are passing or failing in their mission. I noticed that in the name of patriotism, we never question Army's actions. They are always right. Sure, we all must salute the brave soldiers who sacrifice their lives so that we can feel secure and sleep well at night. But, shouldn't they too have a yard stick? No one should get a carte blanche.
President Bush basically is saying that (1) the Administration is not at fault (2) Iraqi government is not at fault and (3) the soldiers are not at fault. And yet, the violence in Iraq is increasing, while every one is doing their jobs well. This doesn't make sense!
We find bad apples even in the best run organizations. We all know that the military has acute shortage of recruits. I doubt if military has enough resources to thoroughly evaluate psychological profile of all the recruits and reject those who are unfit psychologically. I am sure that they recruited a good number of manic depressives, sadists, and kids with abused childhood (albeit unintentionally). Think of all the damage these kids can do to the innocent civilians on the other side of the line (e.g., Abu Grahib). I think that this administration is feeling compelled to maintain 140K+ troop levels just because they don't want to admit that they made mistakes (ego thing).
Re: cooking up of Petraeus report, I wonder why President Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq just before this report was released? Sure, he makes unannounced visits for security reasons. But why visit just before the report was due? We just can't say that Petraeus is a four-star general therefore he must be right, honest, and all that good stuff. Remember astronaut Lisa Novak? Achievement is no guarantee for righousness, I think.
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