Staying the Course

A few minutes ago, President Bush finished a primetime television speech that served as a slap in the face of the American people, a majority of whom now oppose the Iraq War and want our troops withdrawn from Iraq. Basically, the President dismissed the concerns of a majority of Americans and told them in response to their concerns that the American military will stay the present course whether the American people like it or not. It seems that President Bush thinks that he can throw around September 11 and pull the wool over the eyes of the American people once again.

We can all agree, of course, that a free and stable Iraq will benefit America and the entire world. We can also agree that Iraq is now a major battlefront in the war on worldwide terror. But we must state emphatically that President Bush's failed policies in Iraq have contributed to turning Iraq into the terrorist minefield that it is today. We know that President Bush exaggerated the presence of al-Qaeda in Iraq prior to the beginning of the war; but we also know that it is no exaggeration to say that this presence has greatly increased since the beginning of the war, and as a direct result of President Bush's imprudent policies. We know that President Bush exaggerated the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq prior to the beginning of the war; but we also know that it is no exaggeration to say that Iraq now has the potential to become a terrorist nation which really will develop weapons of mass destruction, thanks in large part to the President's failures there. We know that President Bush exaggerated the connection between September 11 and the Saddam Hussein regime; but we also know that it is no exaggeration to say that President Bush's failed policies in Iraq have made America less safe, leaving us open to an attack equal to or worse than September 11.

The only logical conclusion, and the one that the American people must reach and enforce in the next two elections, is that staying the course is not an option if we want a free and stable Iraq. Staying the course is not an option if we want to win the war on terror. Staying the course is not an option if we want an America that is stronger at home and respected in the world -- and that is the only kind of America that will stand a chance against terrorism.

The truth is that Iraq is falling apart, and this is a truth that President Bush and his administration refuse to acknowledge. Iraq is falling apart because we have attempted to force democracy on a people not ready for it, first through devastating economic sanctions under the first Bush and Clinton administrations, and then through an unjust, unnecessary, and poorly planned war under the current administration. Now we are left with this quagmire, from which there is no foreseeable escape. If we leave, we risk the kind of Iraq that is truly a threat to America and the entire world; if we stay, we risk more lives lost on both sides, and no progress made despite the empty platitudes offered to the contrary by President Bush and his administration. This is an outcome that we didn't have to reach: if President Bush had not rushed to war, if he had exhausted all other means of dealing with the Hussein regime, if he had worked with the international community, and if he had bothered to develop an exit strategy instead of committing our troops to a conflict with no foreseeable end -- we would not be where we are now. Are we really to trust this man, who has put us where we are, to get us out of it now?

Thanks to President Bush's poor planning of an unjust war, we are left with no answers and no likelihood of a good outcome in Iraq. May God our Father, through the intercession of Our Lady of Peace, save us from the outcome that President Bush has provided for Iraq, America, and the world.