Murtha "Worries" That Bush's Strategy Will Be Perceived As Victory

Why is this such a concern?

"A year ago, I said we can't win this militarily, and I got all kinds of criticism." Now, Murtha told the strongly antiwar audience, "I worry about a slow withdrawal which makes it look like there's a victory when I think it should be a redeployment as quickly as possible and let the Iraqis handle the whole thing."

If Murtha's concern is for the troops and America, why should he be worried that a slow drawdown will be perceived as a victory? Isn't a good thing that America perceives itself as victorious? Given the choice between an immediate withdrawal perceived as defeat, and a slow withdrawal perceived as victory, who would favor the former?

Well, he would, obviously. Because he's the one who suggested doing that. And he claimed the war could not be won-- he can hardly have Bush seen as winning now that he's staked his reputation (such as it is) on the impossibility of such.

He only seems to care about his personal victory-- he needs a clear defeat and acknowlegement of such in order to vindicate himself, no matter how such a thing might encourage terrorists and sap America's confidence in its ability to fight necessary wars.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: they are desperate to lose this war as quickly as possible because it appears that we just might win. They know they cannot survive the political consequences of an American victory of which they were most assuredly not a part.

Remember-- this is the guy who said he wouldn't have taken the enormous step of calling for a full withdrawal if Bush's people had only kissed his ass a little more on the phone.

What a hero.

Meanwhile, via Allah, TKS finds a fairly large lefty blogger making this statement about Zawahiri's "Bush has lost" claim:

I have to admit it is fun to see Al Qaeda play Bush like a violin.

Al Qaeda is "fun" as long as it can serve as an embarrassment for Bush.

But don't question their patriotism. Oh, no. Don't you dare do that.

posted by Ace at 12:37 PM

| Access Comments