Planning every detail of a Caribbean weekend with one's sweetheart might undermine the fun. No doubt, spontaneity can be good. I'm no military expert, but it seems obvious that the safe withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, whenever that occurs, is not one of those situations that would benefit from lack of planning.
After Sen. Hillary Clinton asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates about its plan for the ultimate troop withdrawal (May 2007 letter), Gates' aide Eric Edelman replied to Clinton with a letter last week that not only failed to answer her questions, but also implied that her asking them amounted to aiding our nation's enemies.
Edelman's attack on Clinton's patriotism typifies how many Bush Administration officials have knee-jerk responded to people who've legitimately questioned them over the last six years. It's like saying, Your momma's a communist, and an ugly one at that, so go to hell! Oh, okay: guess you won that debate on the merits.
Clinton didn't call for an immediate troop withdrawal. She simply asked about the Pentagon's exit-strategy planning. Chances are that we will exit Iraq, be it next year or next decade. Whether one likes Clinton or not, her request for information was reasonable -- given that she's an elected official and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Clinton's response to Edelman was equally reasonable:
"'I continue to call on the Bush administration to immediately provide a redeployment strategy that will keep our brave men and women safe as they leave Iraq -- instead of adhering to a political strategy to attack those who rightfully question their competence and preparedness after years of mistakes and misjudgments.'" (Washington Post)
Though insulting, Clinton had some facts on her side when pointing out the Bush Administration's failure to properly plan for both the Iraq invasion and the exit strategy.
Edelman seems to think that troop withdrawal should not be part of the public discourse and that Congress should butt out (Washington Post 2). Fortunately, his boss seems to agree that Congress should be involved, which makes sense, given that Congress has the constitutional power to fund our wars (Washington Post 3).
Furthermore, Edelman's call for secrecy makes no sense, because Administration officials have already publicly discussed troop withdrawal. Just six weeks ago, for example, military officials spoke of reducing our troops in Iraq by half (BNPolitics). Oddly, that was about six weeks after Bush, himself, said that it was unwise to let the enemy know when we are planning to start withdrawing troops (BNPolitics).
Inconsistency is not knew to the Bush Administration, perhaps because its officials so often go on the aggressive-defensive, responding to questions and criticisms with little regard for facts and context. To save its own political face (and that of the Republican party), the Administration should drop that habit like a newly diagnosed diabetic would kick chocolate.
And it's not just about Iraq that Administration officials have blatantly contradicted themselves. One example of inconsistency comes from The Daily Show's Jon Stewart, who juxtaposed video clips of White House Spokesperson Tony Snow saying one thing about the fired U.S. Attorneys, then weeks later saying that he'd never said it. It's short and worth watching (below).
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