Democrats Start Coming Out From Under Rocks

It would be easier to take the Democratic Party seriously if they, like, had even an ounce of courage:

WASHINGTON — George W. Bush "turned tail" from the Afghan war to invade Iraq, leaving President Barack Obama a worsening war he must now try to turn around, a senior Democratic White House ally said Tuesday.

In unusually sharp comments, Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he was "angry" about former vice president Dick Cheney's latest attacks on Obama's handling of a bloody conflict now in its ninth year.

"Frankly, they turned tail. That's pretty tough language, but I get angry when I hear vice president Cheney talk about a job they started but didn't finish," Hoyer told reporters.

"They started something and didn't finish it, and they left it for this administration to clean up," he said. "We are clearly not making the same mistake the Bush administration made."

...On Monday, RAW STORY reported that Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) blasted the Bush administration for fouling up the pursuit of Osama bin Laden.

"Look what happened with regard to our invasion into Afghanistan, how we apparently intentionally let bin Laden get away," Hinchey said. "How we intentionally did not follow the Taliban and al-Qaeda as they were escaping. That was done by the previous administration because they knew very well that if they would capture al-Qaeda, there would be no justification for an invasion in Iraq."

These comments could have been made YEARS ago. They might even have been useful, say, in May, 2003. But that would have meant having a backbone, and it was far easier to hide.

Myself, even though I think Congressman Hinchey's allegations are plausible, I don't think the Bush Administration deliberately let Osama bin Laden go. I think that that traitor George W. Bush refused to bomb al-Zarqawi's camp near the Iran-Iraq border in order to keep his planned Iraqi invasion on track, however, and keep al-Zarqawi in business. Bush only attacked Al Qaeda when it was convenient for Bush to do so. If we had followed that sort of approach with the Nazis, Hitler's grandson would be Fuhrer today.

Regarding the Tora Bora battle, however, I think incompetence was the problem. Stuck in Don Rumsfeld's Washington La-La land, the Bushies did not realize how many troops would be required to secure the mountainous area, and so they went in undermanned. Using local contacts and Saudi money, Osama bin Laden was able to escape.

(Never blame malice when incompetence will do).

And Steny Hoyer's comments are correct, as far as they go. But in 2003, he supported the Iraq War. Hello? It's easy to insult Dick Cheney NOW. Why didn't he insult Dick Cheney THEN?

Picking up after the Bushies, Obama's Afghan adventure is not likely to end much better than Leonid Brezhnev's did. The degree of backstabbing and corruption there in central Asia is awe-inspiring. The U.S. Army HAS learned some things from the Iraq War, and goes into Afghanistan better-prepared today than in 2002, but still, Afghanistan is NOT the same as Iraq. The Iraqis are lot more trustworthy!

We can briefly stabilize the area by spreading lots of money around, but we will corrupt the U.S. Army in the process. We'll be running protection on the heroin trade and running arms to the Taliban and Al Qaeda (and we're already paying the Taliban for safe passage). And the place will be no different when we leave than it was the day we arrived. A slightly-different fate than the Soviets experienced, but that's only because we have more money.