A majority of Americans say Congress should pass a resolution that outlines a plan for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday. Half of those surveyed would like all U.S. forces out within 12 months."Cut 'n' run" is one of those phrases which sounds really, really scary, drawing up ideas of cowardice, of panicked flight, of desperate helter-skelter retreat. Only one problem with it: it isn't being perceived that way.
The poll finds support for the ideas behind Democratic proposals that were soundly defeated in the Senate last week. An uptick in optimism toward the war after the killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi earlier this month seems to have evaporated.
Here is the difference: reality is now controlling the narrative, not phrases. Someone mentioned the other day that this war has now gone on almost as long as WWII; but there is no government to topple, no opposite party of equal stature that an sue for peace. We've had our victory: this is the occupation. And unless we are willing to do what the Spanish did in this country, and the English, and finally us; unless we are willing to occupy the land and subdue the native population through means fair and foul, it will remain an occupation, in this same beleagured and bloody state. The Iraqis understand this; the American ambassador to Iraq understands this; and now, apparently, the American people understand this.
This is another nail in the coffin of this "glorious adventure; and yet another indicator that Cheney and Bush are no longer directing the attention of the public, if they ever were.
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