THE WAR -- The Money [Part 31]

Barak Obama is finally linking the miserable war in Iraq to the fast deteriorating economy at home. To his credit, he’s never spouted nonsense like failure to defeat the terrorists in Iraq will mean those terrorists will climb into the trunks of our Humvees and “follow us home.” He seems well aware that what will follow us home from the ruins of five years in an unnecessary war, what will be tied around the necks of the American people for generations as a result of this disaster, is massive debt.

No one should be, and Barak Obama is not, so naive as to think terrorism ends in this world the day our last hero leaves Iraq. And no one should think for a minute that another terrorist attack cannot (or even will not) take place within the United States at some date in the future. But fear, however real, should not freeze us in place, force us to continue a policy that was wrong from the start and has cost us so much through all these years.

Who can seriously argue that involvement in Iraq is the best defense and preparation against fanatical assaults being planned, who knows where, right now? Resources being wasted in this war need to be used intelligently at home. Terrorism is global, not something corralled within the borders of a single nation.

McBush is throwing around heavily weighted but never defined words like “victory” and “defeat.” He will continue these going nowhere attacks right up until election day. (What else does he have to use?) But this campaign tactic only satisfies mindless emotions while ignoring hard facts. This is the stuff that has hurt us far too long. Enough.

I say: “Obama, 16 months is 16 months too long.” But given Bush’s mushy “horizon” time table (sic) and the slow ticking of McBush’s perpetual clock, Obama’s is the only option making sense..

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The New York Times July 22, 2008
News Analysis
For Obama, a First Step Is Not a Misstep
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and JEFF ZELENY

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government on Monday left little doubt that it favors a withdrawal plan for American combat troops similar to what Senator Barack Obama has proposed, providing Mr. Obama with a potentially powerful political boost on a day he spent in Iraq working to fortify his credibility as a wartime leader. . . .

He said his conversation with General Petraeus and Mr. Crocker focused on “what’s adequate for our security interests, factoring in the fact that not only do we have Afghanistan, which I believe is the central front on terror, but also the fact that if we’re spending $10 billion a month over the next two, four, five years, then that’s $10 billion a month that we’re not using to rebuild the United States or drawing down our national debt or making sure that families have health care.” . . .

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