Nope. Not war. If you prevent enemy combatants from getting enough shuteye, make them sit in uncomfortable positions or mock their genitals, â you have crossed the line in the 21st century. No, war has gotten a conscience (unless, of course, youâre a âfreedom fighter,â in which case strapping plastic explosives to yourself and walking into a school, market or mosque is fair). Actually, the answer is politics. âAll is fair in love and politics.â Try it out. It may not sound right at first, but youâll warm to it. Youâll have to, because this new maxim has more verity than the old one. Consider this synopsis and cast of characters: A congressional minority embittered by a presidential victory by the incumbent. A rapacious âspecial prosecutor.â An apparent white lie before a grand jury. An alleged big lie to the nation. A nation divided. Sen. Edward Kennedy, Rep. John Murtha, Sen. Joe Biden, Sen. Robert Byrd and the gang? Patrick Fitzgerald? Scooter Libby? WMDs? Red and blue states? Actually, I was referring to Newt Gingrich, Ken Starr, Bill Clinton, lascivious cigar antics and conservatives versus liberals. The maxim that allâs fair in love and politics got its truth-value back in 1998 during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. And itâs proving true today. The parallels between these two scandals are deep. But there are some important differences, to be sure. While the Republicans win the honors for letting politics sink to an unprecedented level of ugliness throughout the Lewinsky affair, the Democrats have not only matched them but introduced tactics that actually threaten both national security and global stability. After all, the left is using accusations against the administration a) to claim that the U.S. really shouldnât be in Iraq, and b) to justify withdrawing from Iraq prematurely.
Further, while the Republican-led Congress went on a witch hunt for Clinton in 1998, the witch hunt was grounded in a fact â that Bill Clinton lied about his salacious activities and did so in halls of justice. The Republicans, rather tastelessly, made a mountain out of a mole hill, but in the strictest sense were legitimate in doing so. The same cannot be said for the Democrats in this instance.
Democrats currently are making a mountain out of nothing, because George W. Bush never lied to anyone. If you ever thought differently, I suggest reading Norman Podhoretzâs piece in the December issue of Commentary. Itâs like a time capsule from the lead up to the war. Not only does the article lay out in gory detail the kind of intelligence both Democrats and Republicans were privy to, but it exposes the greatest lie of all â the one many on the left seem willing to follow into a foreign-policy nightmare to score a couple of poll points against Dubya. Podhoretz says it best: âAnd so long as we are hunting for liars in this area, let me suggest that we begin with the Democrats now proclaiming that they were duped, and that we then broaden out to all those who in their desperation to delegitimize the larger policy being tested in Iraq â the policy of making the Middle East safe for America by making it safe for democracy â have consistently used distortion, misrepresentation and selective perception to vilify
as immoral a bold and noble enterprise and to brand as an ignominious defeat what is proving itself more and more every day to be a victory of American arms and a vindication of American ideals.â
Itâs one thing to achieve a new low in dirty politics; itâs another to let dirty politics sully the Iraqisâ prospects for success and the mission of our troops, 2,000 of whom have sacrificed themselves to get us this far. Murtha, for example, may have once been a Marine, but itâs clear heâs now just a politician. His decorations canât shield him from the criticism heâs gotten for allowing his mouth to get ahead of his brain and his partisanship to choke out his conscience. He should be ashamed. More importantly, he should meet with military commanders and the Joint Chiefs before uttering another syllable. In the latest twist to this sordid tale, the Democrats have turned to using the Microsoft strategy â âembrace and extend.â Last weekend, Biden, D-Del., announced his plan for withdrawing troops in a piecemeal fashion: âIn 2006, they will begin to leave in large numbers. By the end of the year, we will have redeployed about 50,000. In 2007, a significant number of the remaining 100,000 will follow.â Isnât this is curiously similar to the presidentâs strategy of âas Iraqis stand up, Americans will stand downâ? The only difference is that it trades specific information to the enemy in exchange for political points. Whether the Dems back the Murtha or Biden plan remains to be seen â but both are predicated upon lies. But the worst part of this affair is that the Democratsâ lie isnât a little white lie, a noble lie, or even a Machiavellian lie. It is the kind of lie that might get you a couple of extra congressional seats and allow you to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq. Itâs the kind of lie that Lenin might have told â i.e. the one that, if told enough, becomes âtrue.â Mark Steyn sums up its likely consequences: âIn war, there are usually only two exit strategies: victory or defeat. The latterâs easier. Just say, âwhoa, weâre the worldâs pre-eminent power but we canât handle an unprecedented low level of casualties, so if you donât mind weâd just as soon get off at the next stopâ ⊠If you exit, theyâll follow. And Americans will die â in foreign embassies, barracks, warships, as they did through the â90s, and eventually on the streets of U.S. cities, too.â Some may call words like this more Sept. 11 posturing by war hawks and Bush apologists. But suppose there is even a modicum of prescience in this position? Not only will a number of congressmen have blood on their hands, but so will the media. And I donât just mean the blood of soldiers in voluntary service; I mean the kind found at Ground Zero.
Max Borders is managing editor of TechCentral-Station.com.