Indiana Senator Evan Bayh has been running around Iowa lately in his quixotic quest for the Democratic presidential nomination. It won't happen, but his consultants will get richer for his efforts. During his travels, Bayh's been getting an earful from anti-war Democrats. He voted for the war and, unlike John Kerry and John Edwards, Bayh hasn't caved in to the Left's surrender plan for Iraq -- otherwise known as immediate strategic redeployment. But the other day Bayh changed his tune a bit. From MSNBC:
At a living room event in Sioux City on Saturday night, former Woodbury County chairman Al Sturgeon told Bayh that rank-and-file Democrats still feel "outrage over this incredible debacle in Iraq." Calling it "the biggest political and military blunder of my lifetime," Sturgeon said to Bayh, "I'd like you to explain your vote on the war and why you gave the president a blank check to get us into this disaster." Bayh calmly answered that "I wouldn't cast the same vote today as I did then." He noted that "the French believed that (there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq), the Germans believed that, the Russians believed that, everybody believed he [Saddam Hussein] had weapons of mass destruction." Bayh said if the Iraqi factions "get their political act together - and we will know this in the next six to eight weeks… if they can form a government… then there's something to work with there." If not, then "we're out."
To be fair, Bayh isn't an Al Sturgeon Democrat. He hasn't parroted the "Bush lied us into war" nonsense, he's rejected calls from John Kerry and others for withdrawal timetables, and he has generally followed a centrist course in the U.S. Senate. And while Bayh should listen to the Al Sturgeon Democrats, he should also give a hearing to U.S. Marine Anthony Ippoliti, who, as Andrew Sullivan has noted on his blog, wrote a letter to his local paper on the "cut and run" talk. Ippoliti noted:
In Fallujah, the people watch Al Jazeerah. However, they also watch CNN. A lot of them fear that the United States will soon cut and run. The people of Iraq see when our country is divided. When they see rallies to "Bring The Troops Home," they see that as a sign that we will end our efforts prematurely. Furthermore, they know that the insurgents will not end their efforts early. That leads them to the conclusion that when we leave, the insurgents will still be there. Therefore, if they help us, their lives and the lives of their loved ones will be in great jeopardy the minute we leave - if we don't finish the job. Much that they see on American television leads them to believe that we intend to abandon our efforts before the new Iraqi government is capable of defending itself and its citizens.