”
I wish it had never happened.
”
I thought I’d lead with those deathless words and keep you
guessing a moment about who said them. There are so many
candidates.
“I wish it had never happened.”
I thought I’d lead with those deathless words and keep you guessing a moment about who said them. There are so many candidates.
In this case, I am referring to Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C. Rep. Jones is the answer to a pretty good trivia question: Who invented the Freedom fry?
At the outset of the Iraq war, you will recall, Rep. Jones, in a fit of pique worthy of a Frenchman, took issue with the French over their now-vindicated recalcitrance about joining us on the battlefield.
Jones’ response was to ask that the use of the term “French fries” (a Belgian invention, by the way), be banned from House of Representative eating establishments in favor of “Freedom fries.” He said the idea came to him by a combination of divine inspiration and constituent complaint.
Rep. Jones now says it was a mistake. And he wishes it – the fries thing – had never happened.
As for the war, he’s had a change of heart there, too.
Yesterday he joined Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and two Democrats – Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii and none other than ultra-dove Dennis Kucinich of Ohio – in introducing a resolution in Congress calling on the president to set a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq by the end of the year.
“After 1,700 deaths, over 12,000 wounded, and $200 billion spent, we believe it is time to have this debate and discussion on this resolution,” Jones said.
Maybe he was hearing footsteps – Republicans are beginning to fret over their prospects in the 2006 election. It is also worth noting that Jones comes from a state with a major military presence. North Carolina is home to both the Marine base at Camp Lejeune as well as the army’s Fort Bragg.
That’s why I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt about his motivation, not to mention praise. Republicans willing to buck this president have been rare, and Rep. Jones should get a courage award from somebody for taking this step.
Rep. Jones’ late conversion comes on the heels of a vigorous debate over what has become known as the Downing Street Memo, a record of a meeting of cabinet of British Prime Minister Tony Blair the summer before the war in Iraq. It revealed that intelligence data was being “fixed” around a policy of going to war with Iraq at a time when President Bush was saying publicly that no such decision had been made.
The turnaround in sentiment about Iraq suggests that the vaunted political capital President Bush claimed following the election may already have been squandered. Further proof can be found in a story in today’s New York Times. It reports that Bush’s job approval rating has fallen to 42 percent, among the lowest figures of his presidency.
Rep. Jones may also have noticed that the Republican-controlled Congress fares even worse, with only 33 percent of the public approving of the job it is doing.
One has to wonder if any of this is getting through to the president, whose ability to ignore news that contradicts his worldview is well known. But never before have members of his own party been so willing to step forward and question his policy, at least on Iraq.
The unremitting bad news from that country is beginning to turn the tide of public opinion. Remember the euphoria over the Iraqi elections of January? They now seem like a mirage.
People concerned about the morale of our soldiers overseas will be tempted to condemn the criticism as counter-productive. And it is a legitimate point to mention the propaganda value of a divided America to the insurgency.
But even making those arguments only further reinforces how much more Vietnam-like this war has become. The choice now seems to be to double the number of troops we have in that country and try to crush the rebellion, with the concomitant risk of further alienating the Iraqi people, or getting out as soon as possible.
Keeping troop levels where they are – that is, just enough to lose – is no longer viable.
John Yewell is the city editor of The Hollister Free Lance. Reach him at [email protected].
