bushtalk and we're Iraq's bad parents

Bush Talks.
Dems Walk.
Everyone Bails.
More Lies About Iraq.

How We End It All - No More Bad-Parenting Iraq.

by Cody Barstow, Ph.D., (and fence rider for the Barstow Ranch)

Mojo City, June 29, 2005 - Last night, President Bush let loose with an insipid, uninspired repetition of everything the public already knows about The War.

The Democrats responded in kind, with meaningless oatmeal thoughts. As did the pundits and the self-declared experts from the media.

The key question remains - how do we get out of Iraq. The bad answer was (paraphrased), "When the Iraqi forces stand up, we'll stand down."

In the discussions afterwards, no one seems to be able to get past that idea.

In other words, we will be the parents to bad children for as long as it takes for them to get their act together.

Here's how we get out of that kind of crazed, non-judgmental thinking. First, we realize that we're acting out the role of very bad parents. We're doing everything for our children and not forcing them to take responsibility for living as adults.

We need to become responsible parents.

We let the Iraqi government, such as it is, know that we'll begin downsizing our troop force without consultation with them, the government. This lets us withdraw forces on our timetable, without announcing a timetable.

We begin to pull our people out. If the Iraqi people really want to defend their homeland and government, they'll rise to the occasion. If they're not worth a rat's ass as a nation, they'll fall.

But as long as we keep parenting them, they'll let us take the pain.

It's that simple, folks. We saw that the South Vietnamese people were unwilling to stand against the North, after all those years of propping them up. They folded quickly after we left.

It is likely the same thing will happen with Iraq. We see nothing to suggest that the people are willing to take the pain as well as the benefits of self-rule.

In the end, it is not the legitimacy of the government we leave behind that matters. Rather it is how well the people believe in their own right to exist.

If they believe, they will stand up. And we can stand down.

If they do not believe, they will fall. And rightfully so.

But we can't let things run for another five years and thousands more American deaths to find out. They must be cut loose soon and become their own adults.