New Direction In the New Year!

Written by: Richard Lara on Apr 25, 2007 11:15 PM EDT

Dear esteemed fellow Democrats,

On Sunday, June 19th of 2005 I was the guest columnist for the Orange County Register. In my article, Patriotism, New and Old, I explained that America�s fear inspired reaction to 911 was resulting in an increasingly dangerous manner of support for George Bush. I said that Bush �failed as commander-in-chief when he began the war without adequate justification and failed to create the broadest possible international support for the invasion.� I said of the troops and their families that �their burden is much greater than it would have been if the president had been a better international leader� and that �Bush's approach to the war places American soldiers in greater danger than they needed to be.�

Today, politicians in Washington are discussing a proposal to increase the number of troops in Iraq, and I, like many of you, believe that proposal to be hopelessly flawed. However, the political climate in the US, though changing, is still not conducive to clear and open discussion of viable approaches to the problem in Iraq. Americans now lack faith in the President�s approach to the problem, but they still want to leave Iraq in possession of a stable new government, and this desire makes sending more troops seem a viable new approach. Will the political climate in the US catch up with the situation in Iraq in time to head off disaster?

The questions of the legitimacy of the war, the justice at which it allegedly aims, and America�s obligations to Iraq are all important considerations for any proposed solution to the problem in Iraq. However, these considerations should not blind us to one of the most fundamental considerations with respect to America�s success in Iraq, namely the issue of the �Sources of Violence.� The Iraq Study Group Report refers to �multiple sources of violence in Iraq,� including �the Sunni Arab insurgency, Al Qaeda and affiliated jihadist groups, Shiite militias and death squads, and organized criminality.� However, this list is incomplete, if not conspicuously so, for the very presence of American troops is, whether Americans think it should be so or not, one of the chief sources of violence in Iraq. However, the American troops are not responsible for this violence or for its growing intensity. Instead, it is the unscrupulousness and ineptitude of George W. Bush that accounts for �the grave and deteriorating� situation in Iraq. As I said in my June 19th commentary: �[�] step into the shoes of the Iraqis: 'My government was not complicit in the 9/11 attacks, no weapons of mass destruction were ever found, and Bush has garnered but scattered international support for the invasion. Subsequently, there is widespread international opposition to the invasion coupled with worldwide anti-Americanism, so Iraqi opposition to the American invasion might find support amongst influential nations. So do I welcome US soldiers with open arms, or do I take up arms and resist the invasion?'"

George W. Bush has done virtually everything imaginable to provoke the Iraqis, to embolden them, and to incite them to violence. Now he and others in Washington want to send more troops to the region, which would increase resentment even while providing it with more targets. This is unconscionable! In the new year, let's continue the fight to move America in a NEW DIRECTION!

Happy New Year Democrats!

Sincerely,

Richard Lara

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