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2006-04-01 posted by vic link to this post Mea Culpa I've been thinking. Many have said that criticism of our President and of the war aids our enemies and hurts our troops. For the most part, I still think that line of reasoning is bogus, but I've become concerned over the amount of dissent expressed by members of the government. It's one thing for a Cindy Sheehan to criticize the President, but when high-ranking government officials do so, we're treading on dangerous ground. I wanted to show you the kind of statements that I'm most concerned about, so here they are with the identities of the speakers concealed so as save them, and America, from embarrassment: "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is" - a State Governor "What has happened is we have taken a political crisis and a humanitarian crisis and escalated it into a full military crisis... You have the same situation [as Vietnam]. Ambiguity, no stated, clear cut mission and then you are going to have to be there quite some time." - a Presidential candidate Mr. Speaker, this is a very difficult speech for me to give, because I normally, and I still do, support our military and the fine work that they are doing. But I cannot support a failed foreign policy...[The President] has never explained to the American people why he was involving the U.S. military in a civil war in a sovereign nation, other than to say it is for humanitarian reasons, a new military/foreign policy precedent ... Was it worth it to stay in Vietnam to save face? What good has been accomplished so far? Absolutely nothing." - a member of the House Leadership "America needs to quickly change directions and leave behind this chilling comedy of errors that has defined our foreign policy." - same House member "It’s also one more adventure in a whole line of adventures of failed foreign policy." - same House member "...we have a president I don’t trust, who has proven my reason for not trusting him: had no plan." - same House member "[the President] has decimated our ability to defend ourselves." - a Senator "This is the most inept foreign policy in the history of the United States." - a Representative "Many question the path that has taken us to this point. I have my own questions about the long term strategy of this campaign." - a Representative "Obviously, we are not winning the war." - a Senator "We are presently at war and it is an unconstitutional war." - a Representative "I don't believe we're winning it today." - a Senator "And what are we doing bombing and attacking this tiny country that has never attacked the United States... I believe it is an unjust war." - a Presidential candidate "I’m opposed to saying, ‘Let’s go in and win it,’ because I don’t know what win means. Do we go in and flatten it? ... I don’t want another Vietnam. I don’t want to have people say we’ve wasted a thousand lives for nothing." - a Presidential candidate In the future, I hope that our political leaders will be more careful with their words.