\jeff{krimmel}

When In Doubt, Just Lie

Calling someone a “liar” is quite inflammatory, but it’s to the point in this country where the gloves have to be taken off and people have to be called what they are. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is a liar. Plain and simple.

Mr. Rumsfeld spoke to a group of veterans on Tuesday, and he attacked critics of the war in Iraq by claiming said critics hope to appease the terrorists:

Comparing terrorist groups to a “new type of fascism,” Mr. Rumsfeld said, “With the growing lethality and the increasing availability of weapons, can we truly afford to believe that somehow, some way, vicious extremists can be appeased?”

Who in the hell is hoping to appease the terrorists? I would really like to know. Because they have no place in serious national security discussions in this country. I don’t think Mr. Rumsfeld knows specifically of anyone of political significance who has advocated appeasing the terrorists. I think Mr. Rumsfeld is flat out lying, misrepresenting the position of war critics in order to protect his hide politically.

What war critics are talking about is the notion that stirring up a hornet’s nest in the Middle East is a bad idea when it comes to enhancing the securing of this country. How has the war in Iraq made America safer? It’s not like terrorists have lost their desire to attack us on our own soil because we have taken the fight to insurgents in Iraq. In fact, the opposite is quite likely happening. We have generated recruiting opportunities for the terrorists of which they could hardly dream, and they’re using these opportunities to find more and more people bent on the destruction of the United States of America.

What’s the best way to combat this problem? Not by embroiling ourselves in a civil war in Iraq. We need to focus on our own country, own our ports, our own planes, our own borders. We need to use the precious resources we have to track the terrorists and hunt them down wherever they are (which is almost universally outside of Iraq). No one is talking about appeasement here.