Well, this was predictable. The link takes you to an "article" on Aljazeera lauding Dick Durbin for his Gitmo=Genocide remarks of the other day.
Durbin has been called on to retract and apologize, but now that he's the man of the hour for the leftists, I doubt that will happen. All the lefty blogs from Atrios to Kos and their crowds think that Durbin is some sort of hero and have taken to the usual name calling of critics of Durbin's remarks. Fine, let the children have their fun.
The righties have gone mushroom cloud on Durbin and are close to taking this thing past the point of making a point. Durbin's comment were stupid, but he was very careful not to draw a clear connection between Pol Pot and the administration, although it's not that hard of a stretch to see that is what he wanted his audience to hear.
What struck me about his statement was that he picked an example of what he (and many others on the left, go figure) consider torture. Regulating heat and cold, denying clothing, restraining in uncomfortable positions, etc may make the weak minded queasy, but this just doesn't get close to torture. So far, I haven't heard about car batteries and pliers.
Once again: real crimes should be prosecuted. If this is the best Durbin can come up with, he's lost the argument.
But I don't think that he made the argument to win over anybody. He made it to stir up the faithful and this he has accomplished. Much like Jon Conyers' sideshow yesterday, these things serve only to harden positions on both sides. The left gets a little louder in screaming for impeachment while the right digs in and refuses to consider changing tactics.
That said, what to do about our present situation? How do we deal with the Gitmo issue and the growing doubts about Iraq?
For Gitmo there are a few options. It can be closed, but only after a place for these prisoners can be found. I don't see that as making any bit of difference to those abroad or here in the States. The new facility will get the same amount of criticism. These people will not get trials in US courts because they are prisoners from a war and as such do not qualify for constitutional protection. Why that is not clear, I have no idea.
All detainees could be delivered to some ally for holding. Say, Pakistan. Let's see Isikoff get a story out of there.
The third and best option would be to do nothing other than the routine investigating and prosecuting of true crimes, tell the world to piss off and get on with winning the war. Quickly.
As to winning the war quickly, I am slowly coming to the opinion that this low level of combat that we are hearing about is doing harm in that it is giving war opponents time to formulate strategy. The radical left wants nothing more than for Iraq to become Vietnam. While the Iraqi government is achingly slow in its progress, it still is progress. But it is like a babe in the crib. We must protect it and monitor it so as to make sure that it survives.
The only so-called exit strategy that is legitimate, as I have said before, is to win the war. The only way that I can see for a clear, undeniable victory is to inflict massive damage and casualties on the terror forces on a scale that would raise both shrieking criticism of the US from the world community and respect from our enemies. If they're still alive. This may have to involve a huge bombing campaign, although I don't think that Bush has it in him anymore.
We probably know where all these terrorists are. And we now know that they have willing accomplices among the populace. Douglas Wood was found tied up under a blanket in a regular Sunni home, not in a terror hideout. So maybe it's time we put an end to all this by truly flushing out the Sunni Triangle, but for real this time and without regard to civilian casualties. If the US wanted to be magnanimous, I suppose that some warning could be given for those wishing to surrender or for innocent people wishing to get out, but that would cause a logistical headache. Plus, haven't we exhausted the warning scenario?
I'm afraid that it's past time to be worrying about public opinion both out in the world at large, in Iraq or here at home. Win the freakin' war and get out.
The longer this takes, the more we'll get to hear from the likes of Senator Durbin while the administration looks more and more like it doesn't know what to do. So far, I have trusted this administration to win this war, but they seem to me now as being stuck between knowing what needs to be done and unwilling to do it.
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