You Must Believe

GOPUSA ^ | Gregg Bish | Gregg Bish

[Reagan Man]

This past week, the Senate Intelligence Committee released the politically charged assessment of the intelligence failures that lead to America's war with Iraq. Very well then, an intelligence agency drained of its resources by the Clinton Administration, hamstrung by limitations in its recruiting and prosecution practices, and sadly diminished in its stature by years of anti-government moviemaking joined the rest of global intelligence services in a great big giant failure of intelligence. Every intelligence service in the world was wrong, and a politically conflicted body doomed to defend a variety of partisan positions is right. Dr. Eric Berne, the founder of transactional psychology, would have had a field day with such a notion, if he was still alive. But that's what you have to believe, as a Democrat, in order to support the party's official position that the war in Iraq was unjustified. But as surely as such beliefs must gall and chafe more moderate Democrats, their extravagance prevents them from being taken seriously, and raises serious questions about the sanity of the left.

Think it might be a joke? Consider. To support the liberal cause you have to take a lot of things on faith.

You must truly believe:

Every intelligence agency in the free and formerly communist world erred in analysis, at the same time, about the same things, about the same person and the same place.

You must believe that there is no conflict of interest, and no inhibition of the truth, to Jamie Gorelick participating in an investigation into 9-11-01. As Deputy Attorney General, Gorelick issued a directive causing the impenetrable wall to be built between domestic and foreign intelligence services. This single act many believe would have prevented any meaningful connecting of dots leading to prevention of our nations deepest wound.

You must believe that there is no hate, no two-mindedness and no maliciousness in a John Kerry today that a few short months ago claimed that Republicans were a "lying, cheating, dishonest bunch". You must believe that what is said today is the truth. What does that make what was said yesterday? What doubt does that raise about today, or tomorrow?

You must believe that John Edwards, characterized a year ago as "not out of diapers" by his opponent John Kerry, and as a kid not ready for the presidency, is now fully prepared to become the president in the event of the unthinkable. Is this contestant an adult, or an unprepared neophyte?

You must believe that it is possible to reduce funding year after year for the premier intelligence agency in the world, reducing its staff, reducing its license, reducing its assets, without diminishing its ability to gather meaningful and important intelligence on our antagonists.

You must believe that in every instance that dual-use technology existed in Iraq, including over two tons of radioactive material recently transported out of that country, it existed for only the most benevolent of reasons. You must believe that the same government with a thirty-year history of murder and oppression had no malicious intent for these technologies.

It asks a little much. For a conservative, it's laughable, of course. Moderate Democrats should be just plain insulted. It's asking more than should be expected. It's asking them to lie to themselves and ignore what is obvious.

The Liberal political machine is making some serious mistakes that can be counted on to multiply as they try to cover their position. It's totally in character for them to manipulate the truth, and even to tell a bit of an extravagance. That's politics. Their extravagances with the truth are becoming indefensible, and in some cases an embarrassment to their constituents

The truth is that WMD existed in Iraq. This has been shown repeatedly with their use in dribs and drabs against coalition forces. The scope of their presence may have been overestimated by intelligence services, but without eyes and ears on the ground and in the regime, estimates had to be made from five hundred miles in space. The president asserted that the potential of proliferation existed and was too great not to be stopped. The president referred to a gathering threat, not an imminent threat.

The truth is that a conflict of interest exists any time an investigation is conducted by one who was a part of the cause of the investigation. Any statements that arise from such a conflicted person's participation should be discounted as suspect if not false.

The truth is that the Democratic Party presided over the largest drawdown in American intelligence resources in history on the basis that the Cold War was over and there was no need for extensive covert services. The Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee shares as much or more responsibility for mistaken interpretations as the President, and is equally culpable.

The truth is that WMD was only one of four arguments that were made to depose the Hussein regime. The human rights violations, genocide against the Kurds, the graft involved in the Oil-for-Food program and the countless other charges against Saddam Hussein make our reasons for going to Kosovo and Bosnia pale by comparison. One must have a cold heart and cynical eye indeed to believe that it is better to live in oppression and tyranny than in freedom.

These extravagant exaggerations leave us to wonder if a debate remains concerning "is", in the liberal left. The truth, on the other hand, requires no defense. It just "is".

[Spok]

The invasion of Iraq has been worth while, with or without the WMD's. The world now knows America has the will and the ability to act decisively when threatened. The worst case scenario would be to now show the world that America can't survive the poilitical fallout from the cost, both economically and in terms of the loss of life. Vietnam begot Iraq, and if our resiolve crumbles again, the progeny of Iraq will be even more dire than 9/11.

[Reagan Man]

... if our resiolve crumbles again..

Another good reason why Kerry must be defeated.