A chance to pull out of Iraq is being squandered by Democrats, says alexander cockburn |
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First, let's yield the floor to a Republican, Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon, who recently proclaimed: "We have no business being a policeman in someone else's civil war. I welcome the Iraq Study Group's report, but if we are ultimately going to retreat, I would rather do it sooner than later." Not cut and walk. Cut and run.
Now let's go to a Democrat, Representative Sylvestre Reyes (right) of Texas, Nancy Pelosi's pick as head of the House Intelligence Committee.
The freshly anointed Reyes told Newsweek: "We're not going to have stability in Iraq until we eliminate those militias, those private armies. We have to consider the need for additional troops to be in Iraq, to take out the militias and stabilize Iraq... I would say 20,000 to 30,000 - for the specific purpose of making sure those militias are dismantled, working in concert with the Iraqi military."
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| Sylvestre Reyes comes to his new job with an open mind - meaning an empty one |
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Reyes comes to his important post with an open mind, meaning an empty one. He knows nothing of the region. This became clear in his brief parley with a reporter from Congressional Quarterly who had the impudence to question him at the end of a tiring day, when men of mature judgment head for the bar.
CQ's man asked Reyes if al-Qaeda was Sunni or Shiite. Reyes tossed a mental coin. "Predominantly - probably Shiite." Wrong, of course, since al-Qaeda is Sunni - of a notoriously intolerant strain. It's as if Reyes had called the Pope a Presbyterian.
Then the pesky newshound probed him on the matter of Hezbollah. "Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah..." Reyes answered irritably. "Why do you ask me these questions at five o'clock?"
At least Senator Smith can publicly concede that as things stand, Iraq is a disaster and quitting time is here. No prominent Democrats in Congress except Jack Murtha can bring themselves to do that. The language is always of pleasing schedules, in which a (fictional) entity called the Iraqi army 
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