NY Times lead editorial, Sunday July 8 - Leave Iraq Now

[Faygo Kid]

No more qualifiers. The New York Times on Sunday morning will lay it on the line, in a long editorial on the horrific war that it is time to end:

It is time for the United States to leave Iraq, without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.

Like many Americans, we have put off that conclusion, waiting for a sign that President Bush was seriously trying to dig the United States out of the disaster he created by invading Iraq without sufficient cause, in the face of global opposition, and without a plan to stabilize the country afterward. . .

President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have used demagoguery and fear to quell Americans’ demands for an end to this war. They say withdrawing will create bloodshed and chaos and encourage terrorists. Actually, all of that has already happened — the result of this unnecessary invasion and the incompetent management of this war.

This country faces a choice. We can go on allowing Mr. Bush to drag out this war without end or purpose. Or we can insist that American troops are withdrawn as quickly and safely as we can manage — with as much effort as possible to stop the chaos from spreading.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/opinion/08sun1.html?hp

[rusty charly]

1. Tht's right, NYTimey!

Catch Up.

[jimshoes]

2. Where is the apology to all of us

who were saying this for the last couple years? I won't hold my breath.

[struggle4progress]

4. It's utterly pointless to berate folk for the time before they saw the light

[jimshoes]

7. Perhaps pointless but should we just forget

that they were a key player in the run-up to the Iraq war. Remember Judith Miller wrote so much of the grist for the rumor mills of RW radio comes from the times. I applaud them for seeing the light, don't get me wrong but I should like a mea culpa, that's all.
ed:typo

[struggle4progress]

11. Politics is about shifting positions and alliances. This'll happen again. And again.

Try to learn from what happened and be better prepared next time.

[tomp]

17. they haven't seen the light...

...they've seen which way the wind is blowing. they weren't in the dark, they were helping.

[struggle4progress]

18. You know what? On a purely philosophical level

I'm really quite inclined to agree with you.

My current objectives, however, are not philosophical but political.

And on political level, I generally think I'd have to be brain-dead to attack people when they're saying what I want them to say.

[tomp]

19. i think you're wrong.

i don't think my point is purely philosophical. you might be inclined to think of my point as political the next time the dems sell us down the river. and they will, i assure you , do just that. my approach to politics is to call 'em as i see 'em, every time. we could stand a little more of that in all quarters. they're not saying what you want them to say, they're saying what they know you want to hear, and you're buying it as if they mean it. they don't.

[madrchsod]

3. where`s our candidates?

they can not call for an "immediate" withdraw of our troops? the next soldier to die for their silence is blood on THEIR hands... the lack of courage to say we must start leaving today is surely a preview of their fitness to run this country.

[jillan]

13. What I have heard is that they will be talking about Iraq this week in the Senate

Get ready!

[Newsjock]

5. July 8, actually

you might want to edit the subject line while there's still time. :)

[Faygo Kid]

6. Good heavens, I'm a week ahead of myself.

Thanks. Down in flames again.

[kurth]

8. "Bush’s plan is to stay the course as long as he is president and dump the mess on his successor"

[argyl]

10. Nothing new here.As governor in 1999, Texas faced its first ever deficit.

The Legislature had wrapped up and would not be convening again until 2001.

Smirk was already being heavily touted as the Republican nominee for president for 2000 and by the money he was raising it looked like a sure thing that the fix was in for him.

So a reporter asked him about the mess the Texas budget was in and he responded that by then he was hoping for another job,all the while smirking and cackling in his nauseating little dog panting,giggling laugh.

And he was right. The citizens of Texans were left with the tab while he skipped on to a bigger and more important stage to fail miserably on.

[Botany]

9. Thanx for being there N.Y. Times & to your little Judy Miller too

BTW you might want to look @ the 2004 race .... bush lost that one too.

[Faygo Kid]

12. I agree, but the editorial page has (mostly) been solid.

I condemn the Times' coverage, but the editorial page has been anti-Bush. The Washington Post has been far, far worse than the Times. I liked this editorial, and it's about time. It's symptomatic of what's happening - a convergence of agreement. Out now.

http://www.alternet.org/images/managed/Story+Image_thumb_051006_story1.jpg

[Jackpine Radical]

14. Let us first express our gratitude to the Times for promulgating the lies

that got us into the war in the first place. The blood of a half-million people is on your hands.

[necso]

15. Better late than never.

(An oversimplification, of course; sometimes late is worse than never.)

And I'm guessing that the établissement-types in general are starting to see the handwriting on the wall -- including, increasingly, republicans.

But the pugs have ventured far, far out onto thin ice. And it's probably unlikely that they'll figure out how to extricate themselves -- and react quickly enough to take advantage of this course -- before the ice collapses completely on them.

[Harry Monroe]

16. A good start NYT and an adequate "mea culpa"

I'll wait until you write an editorial calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney before I stand up and cheer, if you don't mind.