We don't negotiate with terr'ists

It's time for the U.S. to get out of Iraq -- because the insurgency cannot Troops_in_iraq be defeated by the force of American arms. Who says so? Why, the U.S. military leaders on the ground in Iraq, who flat-out contradict Bush administration claims that the war against the insurgency is being won. Those are the findings in a stunning report in this morning's Philadelphia Inquirer. Here's what the Inquirer's Tom Lasseter found after talking to a raft of U.S. commanders:

"A growing number of senior American military officers in Iraq have concluded there is no long-term military solution to an insurgency that has killed thousands of Iraqis and more than 1,300 U.S. troops in the last two years. Instead, officers say, the only way to end the guerrilla war is through Iraqi politics - an arena that has been crippled by divisions between Shiite Muslims, whose coalition dominated January elections, and Sunni Muslims, who are a minority in Iraq and form the base of support for the insurgency.

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"The recognition that a military solution is not in the offing has led U.S. and Iraqi officials to signal they are willing to negotiate with insurgent groups or their intermediaries. 'It has evolved in the course of normal business,' said a senior U.S. diplomatic official in Baghdad, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of U.S. policy to defer to the Iraqi government on political matters. 'We have now encountered people who at least claim to have some form of a relationship with the insurgency.'

"The message is markedly different from statements by U.S. officials who spoke of quashing the insurgency by rounding up or killing 'dead-enders' loyal to former dictator Saddam Hussein. As recently as twoCheney weeks ago, in a Memorial Day interview on CNN's Larry King Live, Vice President Cheney said he believed the insurgency was in its 'last throes.'..."

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he paper notes that "In the Gallup Poll, 56% say the Iraq war wasn't 'worth it,' essentially matching the high-water mark of 57% a month ago."

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Yesterday, on ABC's This Week, Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., an ardent supporter of the invasion, called on Bush for a timetable for withdrawing troops. "I feel that we have done about as much as we can do," he said.

But, as usual, the cowardly Democratic leadership in Congress is Rep_lynne_woolsey failing to seize this moment when public opinion would support withdrawal from Iraq. Just two weeks ago, Marin County Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey forced a vote on her resolution requiring the Bush administration to set a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. But this common-sense proposal was torpedoed with the help of the House Democratic leadership -- Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the supposed "liberal," and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer both led 79 House Democrats in voting to kill the Woolsey withdrawal resolution.

  Direland article

Time for a revamp of American politics?