How Dare You Suggest We Defend Our Views!

Representatives John Shadegg (R-AZ) and Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) just released a "dear colleague" letter with the following astounding statements:

We are writing to urge you not to debate the Democratic Iraq resolution on their terms, but rather on ours.

Democrats want to force us to focus on defending the surge, making the case that it will work and explaining why the President's new Iraq policy is different from prior efforts and therefore justified.

We urge you to instead broaden the debate to the threat posed to Americans, the world, and all "unbelievers" by radical Islamists. We would further urge you to join us in educating the American people about the views of radical Islamists and the consequences of not defeating radical Islam in Iraq.

The debate should not be about the surge or its details. This debate should not even be about the Iraq war to date, mistakes that have been made, or whether we can, or cannot, win militarily. If we let Democrats force us into a debate on the surge or the current situation in Iraq, we lose.

I can't believe the sheer ignorance this letter displays. These men actually think that they have no need to show why the surge will work--a an action that will cost millions of dollars and more lives lost--because America will lose if we dare question it's chance of success? America is not a dictatorship where a small group of men get to make decisions while the rest of the people are ignored. We are a democratic republic where open debate is necessary to reach a satisfactory compromise. Since the American people are the ones shouldering the burden of this war both in terms of cost and lives, we should damn well have a good reason to keep doing it.

Plus, using fear just a convenient way of trying to divert attention from the actual issue at hand. Speculations of what may or may not come to pass without good evidence is nothing mroe than scaremongering and does not belong in a rational government. It's thinking like this that shows just how poor the current state of American politics has become.

Daily Kos has more.