News: The Media on the Iraq War

The inevitable partisans on Fox News banter about how the media is at fault for how the war in Iraq is going badly in the field and in public opinion. Any statement of fact or opinion that seems critical of the Bush administration is taken as an attack against patriotism and a failure to support our troops. (I disagree with the liberals who say "Supporting our troops means bringing them home" before accomplishing their mission.) This is like Bill Clinton saying the press, and not his own words and actions, tainted his reputation and drew his detractors.

When the media says the administration has not yet demonstrated sufficient resolve, resources and a winning exit strategy in Iraq ... they are advocating for a coalition win! What could be more patriotic than that? They are not negating the Bush strategy (whatever the real reason for why we invaded Iraq in the first place) but calling for more in the form of a sufficient and definitive strategy. At the same time, Bush and company have had years as the ones responsible for capping the influx of foreign combatants, protecting the infrastructure, capturing and containing the insurgency and so on. Has this been done sufficiently? Using Bush's own declaration of the cessation of hostilities, it is fair to say no.

It is also fair and patriotic to discuss the subject. It is a contradiction of patriotism to blindly take the administration's assurances at face value (and for the adminsitration to tell us to do so). This is a participatory democracy, not an oligarchy where we kowtow to our leaders' wishes.

George Bush and kingmaker Karl Rove do not get to make every decision themselves. Listen. Discuss. Decide together. This is the definition of democracy.