Ted Koppel Almost Makes Sense

So the clock radio goes off this morning and I find myself listening to something I cannot believe: Ted Koppel sound like a war blogger and making sense. And then, just when I begin to wonder if I'm still dreaming, he turns it around. He's still too liberal to get his own point

Check it out:

The administration is right. The consequences of a premature U.S. withdrawal would have disastrous implications for the region. And the region, in case anyone has forgotten or is too polite to mention it, is the oil-rich Persian Gulf.

So setting benchmarks for Iraqi achievements and behavior is nonsense. What are we saying? It's too dangerous to leave because of possible consequences to the region; but if the Iraqis show that they're incapable of preventing anarchy and chaos by not meeting our benchmarks, then we're going to leave?

I think what we ought to be saying is that U.S. troops will start withdrawing as Iraqis do meet the benchmarks.

Right on, Ted. He's getting more liberal here but watch him give Nancy Pelosi and company the back of his hand:

We've been given so many bad reasons for why we went to war in Iraq — those weapons of mass destruction, Hussein and his neighbors, Hussein and al-Qaida, establishing democracy — that we've actually convinced ourselves that we did it for them… for the Iraqis; not because it served the U.S. national interest.

That makes it easy to depict the Iraqis as a bunch of underperforming, ungrateful retches; and if they don't start shaping up, we're pulling out.

Yeah Ted. It is about U.S national interest. And treating the Iraqis like a bunch of teenage slackers is stupid. Too bad the Democratic leadership keeps doing it. But wait. It gets a little vague after that so I'm not wedded to this interpretation, but in going on to say the democrats are equally dishonest he seems to imply that the "tough love" approach he finds so silly is Bush's doing. He thinks he's back handing Bush.

He's so sure that Bush can't say anything worthwhile that it has completely escaped him that he has offered the exact same policy. Can anyone tell me the difference between these two lines:

-- "I think what we ought to be saying is that U.S. troops will start withdrawing as Iraqis do meet the benchmarks" --Ted Koppel

--"When the Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down." --George W Bush

It's almost as if he attributes every stupid idea, no matter how many times the Democratic leadership utters it, to Bush. Fascinating