Good evening everyone, and thank you for inviting me to speak to the North Conway League of Women Voters tonight to explain why you should vote for me, a Democrat, rather than the other guy. I am most grateful to for this opportunity to tell you what I think about the issues, rather than having Karl Rove tell you what I think.
Karl’s remarks here on Monday night made three things clear:
First, the war in Iraq is the overriding issue in the 2006 campaign for Congress.
Second, Karl has decided to see if he can fool enough of the people a second time into believing that America's national security is at stake in Iraq.
Third, Karl has decided that his team’s winning strategy will be to define the electoral choice as cut-and-run (us) versus stay-the-course (them).
I have three things to say about this.
First, to cut and run precipitously from Iraq would be terribly costly, risky, and irresponsible.
Second, so would staying the course, which means we are in a lose-lose position.
Third, the party and the ideology that put our nation into this lose-lose position do not deserve to be re-elected. Those who lead their followers into a lose-lose position can't defend their leadership by demanding that their followers come up with a way to win.
I agree with Karl that cut-and-run would be irresponsible, but not for the reason he states. He says that cut-and-run would be a defeat for America in what he calls the global war on terror. Humbug. Al Quadea was not in Iraq before we invaded, would not have shown up there if we hadn’t invaded, and will disappear quickly after we leave. The Iraqi insurgency is a Sunni insurgency targeted against Iraqi Shiites and Kurds. So long as American troops are defending the Shiite-dominated status quo, the insurgents will have good reason to make common cause with Jordanian, Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, Sudanese and Chechnyan jihadis in Iraq. The minute American troops leave, Al Quadea in Mesopotamia will be asked to leave Mesopotamia, and not politely.
Therefore, America’s war in Iraq has nothing to do with jihadist terror, just as Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. Shame on Karl for fooling us once. Shame on us if we are fooled for a second time into believing that our national security is at stake in Iraq.
No, the real reason why it would be irresponsible to cut and run from Iraq has nothing to do with the war on terror. An ancient code says that if you save someone’s life, you are responsible for it from that day on. Since America chose to deliver the Iraqi people from Saddam, and in so doing unleashed the forces of sectarian brutality that are tearing the nation apart, America has a responsibility to the Iraqi people to do whatever it can to put the nation back together again.
But if cut-and-run would betray our responsibility to the Iraqi people, my opponent’s argument for staying the course is irresponsible to the American people. Since Vice President Cheney publicly began building the case for war in Iraq in the fall of 2002, and right up to Karl Rove’s speech last Monday, my opponent’s party has deliberately deceived the American people as to what is really at stake. And they have purposefully avoided asking the American people this question: if there were no connection between Iraq and our nation’s security, would the risks and costs of this war be worth it?
My opponent’s party knows very well that America’s answer would be no. And my opponent’s party knows very well that this is indeed the case – there never was nor is there now any connection between Iraq and the war on terror. It is irresponsible of them to pretend that there is, and to insist that we should stay the course for that reason .
In conclusion: we will pay an awful price if we stay, and an awful price if we leave. My opponent’s party – the party of lose-lose – should at least be honest about what is at stake, and stop pretending this war has anything to do with national security. Then, let the American people decide whether and for how long our responsibilities towards a nation we have “saved” are worth the monthly price of 40-50 American soldiers killed, 300-350 American soldiers’ limbs and lives shattered, and $8 billion of debt for our children to repay.
Thank you very much for listening. I’ll take my first question from Mr. Rove standing at the back of the hall.
Dan Badger
London
June 19, 2006
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