Very Long MoveOn.Org-Based Post

I thoroughly enjoyed the e-mail I received from Moveon.org this morning. Here are excerpts from it, with my comments interspersed.

"Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) is calling on Bush to level with us, by releasing the report, formally called a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), to the public. Graham, the former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has read the NIE, and he thinks we all should see it too. "

I would LOVE to see this report. What American with an inquiring mind wouldn't? Or, if one had the chance to read it, who wouldn't want to make changes based on the findings of experts? I can think of one person who wouldn't... and he is currently squatting in the White House. Some minds want nothing to do with evidence which runs counter to their ideology.

I think it's good that other Republicans are beginning to get impatient with the Iraq situation. More from the e-mail message:

"Senator Chuck Hagel (NE), a Republican, says: 'The worst thing we can do is hold ourselves hostage to some grand illusion that we're winning. Right now, we are not winning. Things are getting worse.' 'The fact is, we're in trouble. We're in deep trouble in Iraq.' "

Hagel is a pretty important Senator. He also is, interestingly enough, on the board of directors of one of the companies which manufactures the new computerized voting machines...

"Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) also supports releasing the NIE (report) and says: 'We made serious mistakes right after the initial successes by not having enough troops there on the ground, by allowing the looting, by not securing the borders.' "

I don't think McCain has much credibility after he was beaten up by Bush in 2000 and then has been out campaigning for the guy this year. (Does this make McCain a "flip-flopper"? Heeheehee) Just the same, McCain is prominent and influential, and a lot of Republicans look up to him.

"Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), says 'he believes the situation in Iraq is going to get worse before it gets better, adding that he believes the administration has done a 'poor job of implementing and adjusting at times.' He also says 'We do not need to paint a rosy scenario for the American people' "

Wasn't Graham one of the self-righteous group of guys who tried to impeach Clinton? All you Clinton-haters out there... listen up! That's your boy Lindsey talking!

"Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) says it's 'exasperating for anybody to look at this from any vantage point.'

I doubt Lugar has ever said much with which I would agree, because I think he is crazy... but I think he makes a good point here! The e-mail article continues...

"Those are Republicans talking. Here's what the generals and national security experts are saying, in a terrific recent piece in the UK's Guardian newspaper:

"Retired general William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency, said: 'Bush hasn't found the WMD. Al-Qaida, it's worse, he's lost on that front. That he's going to achieve a democracy there? That goal is lost, too. It's lost.' He adds: 'Right now, the course we're on, we're achieving Bin Laden's ends.'

Maybe Bush should listen more closely to people in the military. Of course, that is a world foreign to him.

"Retired general Joseph Hoare, the former marine commandant and head of US Central Command, [said]: 'The idea that this is going to go the way these guys planned is ludicrous. There are no good options.... The priorities are just all wrong.' "

"Jeffrey Record, professor of strategy at the Air War College, said: 'I see no ray of light on the horizon at all. The worst case has become true...' "

If there is a ray of light, it may in fact be the headlamp of an oncoming train...

"W. Andrew Terrill, professor at the Army War College's strategic studies institute -- and the top expert on Iraq there -- said: 'I don't think that you can kill the insurgency'... 'The idea there are x number of insurgents, and that when they're all dead we can get out is wrong. The insurgency has shown an ability to regenerate itself because there are people willing to fill the ranks of those who are killed'... 'Most Iraqis consider us occupiers, not liberators.' "

"General Odom [also] said: 'This is far graver than Vietnam. There wasn't as much at stake strategically, though in both cases we mindlessly went ahead with the war that was not constructive for US aims. But now we're in a region far more volatile, and we're in much worse shape with our allies...'"

Thanks, Dubya.

Odom comtinues: "'I've never seen [tensions] so bad between the office of the secretary of defence and the military. There's a significant majority believing this is a disaster.'"

Thanks, Dumsfeld.

"Just as important are the opinions of those whose loved ones are serving in Iraq, like Martha Jo McCarthy, whose husband is on National Guard duty there. She says:
'Everyone supports the troops, and I know they're doing a phenomenal job over there, not only fighting but building schools and digging wells. But supporting the troops has to mean something more than putting yellow-ribbon magnets on your car and praying they come home safely.'
'I read the casualty Web site every day and ask myself, Do I feel safer here? No. I don't think we can win this war through arrogance. Arrogance is different from strength. Strength requires wisdom, and I think we need to change from arrogance to solid strength.' "

Those may be the wisest words I have read yet on this subject...

"Join Senator Graham now in calling on President Bush to face the facts and level with us, by releasing the CIA's report, at: http://www.moveon.org/tellthetruth/

I think I'll participate in this one. I have an inquiring mind, and I want to know the truth. I believe most Americans are in the same boat.