Where's the Center in the Iraq debate?

I consider myself a Centrist. However, I find myself writing Blogs about the Iraq debate, much more Left than in the middle of the debate between Republicans and Democrats. Is the Centrist position to stay the course in Iraq for the long haul, supporting the military's tactics and waving the flag or is it advocating an immediate withdrawal from Iraq and bringing all the troops home?

It appears that the Democrats have found a new middle ground and are staking it out. It is to ensure the well being of our troops by ensuring that they spend as much time at home with their families as they spend in Iraq. This Amendment to the funding Bill is being put forward by Sen. Webb D-VA. Yesterday on Meet the Press Sen. John Kerry D-MA argued for a change in mission there to training the Iraqi Army, fighting al Qaeda and securing the borders of Iraq. It looks as though the Democrats have found the middle and are trying to stake out this middle ground and bring along some Republicans with them.

Being a Centrist it was difficult arguing for the exact middle of previous arguments between Republicans and Democrats because the American people had moved away from the Republicans to the point where over 70% wanted the troops home. This middle ground seems more reasonable and balanced and should garner enough support for Moderate Republicans to leave President Bush with his unyielding position, to join Democrats. Let's hope we can bring along the American people with this Centrist position. We may lose some Democrats on this issue but that might not be a bad thing if a more reasonable course of action in Iraq would emerge.

The missing element in this entire Iraq equation was articulated yesterday by Senator Kerry. He asked, "Where's Condi Rice?" I had posted a topic on her whereabouts back on July 9th in a piece titled, "Where's Condoleezza Rice? " Here's that post:

"With all the talk that we can't win militarily in Iraq and that we need a diplomatic solution, where's Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hiding? Has anyone seen her in the past 30-45 days? Could it be she went back to Stanford to teach summer courses, or is she taking a long needed vacation with the Iraqi parliament this summer?"

With the Congress ready to bring up some Amendments to the funding of the war Bills to include endorsing the Iraqi Study Group recommendations for a diplomatic push to involve Iran, Syria and other neighbors of Iraq, Condi isn't to be found anywhere. But then again, she has had plenty of time to get those parties to the table to discuss diplomatic solutions to end the violence. We may need someone other than Condi for this as she is reminding me daily of FEMA's 'Brownie'."

Learning a lesson from Israel's mistake

First the headline, "War report prompts calls for Olmert exit"

Now a brief note on the story:

"A government commission that probed Israel's summer war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon accused Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday of 'severe failure,' saying he hastily led the country into the conflict without a comprehensive plan." Sound familiar?

Now my comment:

It only took the Israeli's a mere 9 months to issue the report and call for his resignation for incompetence. It took us 4 years to get the Iraq Study Group report issued and even then they didn't even slam Bush like the Israeli's slammed Olmert. We could learn something from Israel.

For the whole story click here.

The results of "Staying the Course" in Iraq

As you can see by the chart, there has been an average of about 80 service member deaths PER MONTH since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. This infers that for every month we "Stay the Course" in Iraq, we will add another 80 names to the list.

The President has seen fit to continue to "ponder" his choices even after receiving the Baker/Hamilton Iraq Study Group report on December 6th. He has spent more time thinking about this than he did for their initial planning of the war and the invasion itself. Mr. President, you saw fit to take a "working" vacation in Crawford, TX. I know you listen to God more than anyone else but God sent you a message to leave Crawford when he sent a Tornado your way, Mr. President, but you didn't get moving on this problem then and returned back to Crawford. Mr. President, the troops deserve better from you, their families deserve better from you and the country deserves better from you. Get moving fast and change the course in Iraq by announcing our withdrawal!

Iraq Study Group Report

I know I haven't written anything on the Baker/Hamilton report yesterday. I won't comment on it until I have personally read the entire Report. I did the same thing with the 9/11 Commission report. I had to read all the reports published by the group before commenting. Sorry, it's going to take some time. I can comment on the spirit present when it was presented and I was very pleased that they reached unanimity in their recommendations in a bipartisan fashion. That felt like a breath of fresh air.