Thursday, February 15, 2007

Rep. Goode says debating War in Iraq aids our enemies

During today’s House debate on Iraq, virulently anti-Muslim Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) said supporting the anti-escalation resolution would "aid and assist the Islamic jihadists who want the crescent and star to wave over the Capitol of the United States and over the White House of this country." Moreover, he said, "I fear that radical Muslims who want to control the Middle East and ultimately the world would love to see ‘In God We Trust’ stricken from our money and replaced with ‘In Muhammad We Trust.’"

I was reading a local blogger who was criticizing several Democratic Representatives by name for not doing enough to end the War in Iraq. He must have missed Goode's remarks. If Democrats are called corrupt and hypocritical for not pushing more strongly for an immediate end of war what words would describe Republicans like Goode who are calling everyone who opposes McCain's escalation traitors?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I tend to agree with him, pulling out before a stable government is in place plays right into the hands of enemy. Public talking of the same serves the same purpose. It doesn't mean such talks cannot take place. It just means they should take place behind locked closed doors with Iraqi officials with gag orders placed on all. But pulling out before the Iraq government feels it can protect itself will only increase the likelihood they are forced to make closer ties with Iran or Syria to protect the Iraq government itself.

Dave Barrett said...

the scoundrel,
You agree with Goode?!? If Paladin calls Murtha and Hare corrupt and hypocritical for not working harder to end the war what should he call you?
You and Goode seem to think that the enemy our soldiers are fighting in Iraq are Islamic jihadists who "want the crescent and star to wave over the Capitol of the United States." But most of the fighting seems to be between Shia and Sunni with both fighting us because we are foreign occupiers of their country.
There will be chaos and civil war if we leave but that is already happening and will continue to happen if we stay. The only difference between staying and leaving is that if we leave our soldiers will no longer be dying and we will no longer be foreign occupiers.

Anonymous said...

I disagree with you. The suicide bombers will continue the attacks whether we are there are not. If you leave the governement while they still lack the will or ability to protect the country then we force the government to turn to other sources for protection. If we leave too soon what the country will have is one or more Hezbollah type factions aligning with the different demographic sections trying to usurp power. If you look at the options it would likely be Syria or Iran. A worse case scenario is that the country splits into a deeper civil war and both Iran. Al Qaeda and Syria align with factions. Without out our troops or another friendly to help keep the fighting factions at bay, while the government evolves Syria, Iran and Al Qaeda can push in more of their own troops/advisers/instigators aligning with the different factions. No outside protection would render the Iraq government weak like the Lebanon government. With an ineffective Iraqi leadership the forces can openly travel, recruit and build almost impenetrable bunkers as was done in Lebanon. With our ties to the Kurds, tiny Kuwait, Israel and other Mid East governments we would very soon find our troops right back into the region. Except the next time we would face the same problems Israel did; a defense impossible to wage a credible air campaign. We would be forced to use Nukes or send our troops into a region where they would face a huge blood bath. It is not a question of wanting to be there. We have too many personal and financial ties to the region. We have been and always will be there militarily in some fashion.

Dave Barrett said...

"if we leave the government will have to turn.."
The Iraqi government has already turned to the Shia militias. The country is in civil war with the government and Shia militias on one side and the Sunni insurgents on the other. Of course the suicide bombers will continue -- on both sides. Of course Iran will help the Shia militias. They already are. Of course Saudi Arabia, Syria, Pakistan and other Sunnni countries will help the Sunni side in the civil war. They already are.
All staying does is get our soldiers caught in the cross-fire.

Of course the Middle East will spiral out of control. It will do that whether we stay or go. Some of us tried to tell everyone that this would happen if we invaded and toppled Saddam Hussein but everyone preferred to believe the neocons, who said that we would be greeted as liberators.