Politics, Timetables, and War
The issue is very simple.
Setting a timetable for withdrawal in Iraq will tell our enemies, “Wait until the withdrawal date, and you can have what you are fighting for.” It simply does not make any sense to set a timetable to pull out of Iraq. What if we had set a timetable immediately after D-Day because “things weren’t going well?” Nazi Germany would have been even more emboldened by our lack of resolve.
Keep in mind that more brave Americans died on June 6, 1944, than all the days combined of the War on Terror. No one demanded a timetable then. Why now? I believe one reason is due to the fact that many Americans do not understand the consequences of failure in Iraq.
You simply can not set a timetable to “give up on winning a war.”
Setting a timetable for withdrawal in Iraq will tell our enemies, “Wait until the withdrawal date, and you can have what you are fighting for.” It simply does not make any sense to set a timetable to pull out of Iraq. What if we had set a timetable immediately after D-Day because “things weren’t going well?” Nazi Germany would have been even more emboldened by our lack of resolve.
Keep in mind that more brave Americans died on June 6, 1944, than all the days combined of the War on Terror. No one demanded a timetable then. Why now? I believe one reason is due to the fact that many Americans do not understand the consequences of failure in Iraq.
You would never tell your opponent in a football or basketball game, “If we’re not wining at the end of the third quarter, we’re not sticking around to play the fourth quarter, so you guys can have it.” I understand we’re not talking about a game. I understand our brave soldiers are dying, but no matter how bad the situation is, no matter how bad “it looks,” the logic is still the same.
You simply can not set a timetable to “give up on winning a war.”
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