What is David Brooks Smoking?

David Brooks has a curious column this morning on Iraq. His basically pleads American not to, eh, overreact to bad news and demand a withdrawal:

Since we don't have the evidence upon which to pass judgment on the overall trajectory of this war, it's important we don't pass judgment prematurely.

It doesn't strike me as a particularly convincing argument. But I don't want the U.S. to withdraw now either, so it doesn't bother me much. Here's the part that does:

On Tuesday, Senator Joe Biden gave a speech in Washington on Iraq, after his most recent visit. It was, in some ways, a model of what the president needs to tell the country in the weeks ahead. It was scathing about the lack of progress in many areas. But it was also constructive. "I believe we can still succeed in Iraq," he said. Biden talked about building the coalition at home that is necessary if we are to get through the 2006 election cycle without a rush to the exits.

Biden's speech brought to mind something Franklin Roosevelt told the country on Feb. 23, 1942: "Your government has unmistakable confidence in your ability to hear the worst, without flinching or losing heart. You must, in turn, have complete confidence that your government is keeping nothing from you except information that will help the enemy in his attempt to destroy us."

That's how democracies should fight, even in the age of polling.

Sure, David, because why shouldn't we  all have confidence that the government is keeping no important info  hidden? The Bush administration has such a stellar record on that mark.

Comments

[Cal]

Unless you're advocating a draft, withdrawing our troops is the only option:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-fg-milassess24may24,1,1284663.story?coll=la-iraq-complete

--Just three battalions of Marines are stationed in the western part of the province, down from four a few months ago. Marine officials in western Al Anbar say that each of those battalions is smaller by one company than last year, meaning there are approximately 2,100 Marines there now, compared with about 3,600 last year...

--"[Commanders] can't use the word, but we're withdrawing," said one U.S. military official in Al Anbar province, who asked not to be identified because it is the Pentagon that usually speaks publicly about troop levels. "Slowly, that's what we're doing."

[bill krupper]

What is David Brooks Smoking? I laughed at David's first paragraph. He referenced Geo Washington not taking a poll at Valley Forge to see if we should quit fighting the British. But WE were the guerrillas, David ! The Brits were the ones complaining about us hiding behind trees, not wearing proper uniforms, and not coming out and fighting like real soldiers (echoes of Vietnam). And even though we lost every major battle when we fought like real soldiers, we won. Think of Washington crossing the Delaware. The Brits got tired of the expense, the logistics, the whole involvement, and they left. Read about it in "Secret History of the American Revolution"