I found this excerpt of a Townhall piece, on Robs blog today:

Over the past months and years, those on the left have gone to great effort to paint the mission in Iraq as "failed," "doomed" and a "disaster." They have failed to acknowledge the accomplishments of the U.S. military in Iraq, but have been quick to talk about those in our armed forces as child victims of a failed policy or (worse) as bloodthirsty thugs engaging in torture and terror.

It is certainly not a pleasant thing to accuse fellow Americans, particularly ones entrusted by the citizenry with the nation’s well being, of playing politics with American lives or of providing moral support to her enemies, but I think it is time to ask some hard questions.

Why have so many critics of the war spent more time talking about alleged abuses at Gitmo than they have talking about the new freedoms being enjoyed by those in Afghanistan and Iraq as a result of actions taken by the U.S. military?

Why is it that many war critics seem to believe the U.S. is capable of addressing the conflict and genocide in Darfur, but that they are not capable of achieving victory in Iraq?”

Why is it that when generals, or more frequently former generals, express a lack of confidence in the President, the Secretary of Defense, or our policy and mission in Iraq, their word is not only accepted without question, but their opinions are treated as absolute fact, but when other generals say that it is still possible to win in Iraq, and that condemnations of the President and his policies encourage the enemy, they are ignored?

Why, when given a choice between defeat through surrender or the possibility to pursue victory, there are so many so eager to choose the former?

I happen to agree that it is time to ask some questions. Though my questions are probably not what she or Rob expect. First some background.

I was against this war from day one. I honestly believe that we should have utilized the resources we commited to Iraq to DESTROYING AQ in Afghanistan, and routing the Taliban completely. I also believe we were decieved about the war and that it was poorly planned. We now have a situation where Afghanistan and even Pakistan remain a haven for those responsible for the 9/11 attacks, and we have literally destroyed Iraq. Putting aside the horrendous violence that is taking place in Iraq every day, it laughable to talk about freedom in Iraq, when people dont even have sufficient water and electricity, and when college students are being blown to bits, and people can not leave their homes or go to work without fear of being slaughtered. And yes, we have committed atrocities in Iraq. Unspeakable atrocities, made even more heinous by the fact that our mission was supposed to eliminate such horrors. Over 2000 of our young men and women are dead, thousands more wounded, some so badly that their lives will never be the same... And it has now become clear to anyone but the most hardened partisan, that this war was a misguided one, run poorly and has created instability in the region...

Having said all of that, I still would not vote for a withdrawal. Because the one area where I agree with my conservative brethren is that if we withdraw now, we will simply create another Afghanistan. We will also do something that I think is more immoral than the invasion. We will leave that country in a state of chaos, with destroyed infrastructure and in a state of civil war. As Collin Powell once said, "We broke it, we own it."

But I regress... What are my questions?

1. Why do some conservatives feel that we should not challenge and question a failed strategy.
2. If a Democratic President had led us into Iraq under the same circumstances and with the same results, would conservatives be singing the same song?
3. What are the positives you keep talking about? And how do those positives weigh against the negatives.
4. Do conservatives think we should ignore the negatives in Iraq? Do they think that no one should be held accountable for the poor planning and for the failures to stabilize the country?
5. How much more should we spend in blood and treasure?
6. When is enough, enough?
7. Do they really believe that 20,000 more troops will solve the problem? If so, why aren't they upset that the additional troops.... something many have called for for over a year, was not done before.

Those are my questions. I have many more. But I doubt they will be addressed. Based on the Vice President's comments yesterday, it seems that many on the Right are simply delusional. I am still looking for evidence that they are not.

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