Still Fighting Them There

On Thursday, October 12th, Mike! McGavick and Maria Cantwell sat down with the editorial board of the Spokane Spokesman-Review as part of that paper’s endorsement process. The “conversation” was webcast to allow a broader audience into the process.

The first question was on the subject of Iraq. After explaining that he would have cast the same vote as Senator Cantwell (to invade Iraq) if he had received the same information she had, Mike! "Mini-Slade" McGavick went on to talk about the shift in focus after toppling the Saddam Hussein regime and realizing that there were no WMD in Iraq. McGavick allowed that "things have changed" since we invaded Iraq. In particular he said, ”The terrorist community decided to rush in and fight us there.” Apparently Mike! Doesn’t read the estimates coming from the DOD that actually continues to conclude that the vast majority of so-called insurgents we face in Iraq are home grown. A recent report from the Brookings Institute suggests, ”The total number of foreign fighters in Iraq is between 800 and 2,000, according to estimates by the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington. In contrast, the total strength of the insurgency is more than 20,000 people, according to Brookings. That means the vast majority of its fighters come from Iraq itself. "In proportion to the whole insurgency, [the percentage of foreign fighters] is very small," says Aidan Kirby, a terrorism expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).”

And so, with a blind eye toward the facts, McGavick continued, ”…And by the way, fighting “them” there rather than waiting for “them” to come here is good for the safety and well being of Americans.” Having posted on the very subject in June of this year ( “Fighting Them There” ), I was heartened that one member of the editorial board came back to that point and asked Mike! how the perception of the US using Iraq as our personal battlefield might set with the Iraqi people. Mike!’s reply? ”Iraq was a disaster before we got there; of oppressed people and violence so to say Iraqis are worse off or better off is too early to tell until this war is settled.”

Coming from an insurance company executive, that answer may seem reasonable. I mean, after all, to Mike! we are all just statistics. However, with the recent release of the report from the journal The Lancet , suggesting that as many as 655,000 Iraqis may have died as a direct result of our invasion and ensuing occupation of Iraq, I think the only disaster here is the thinking of Mike! McGavick.

Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue