Attention, Iraq War critics!

Iraqi quagmire, my foot. The terrorists and naysayers have gotten way too much attention. Here's a reply they deserve.

We have declared a bitter war against democracy and all those who seek to enact it ... For all these issues, we declared war against, and whoever helps promote this and all those candidates, as well as the voters, are also part of this, and are considered enemies of God.

-- Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

No one in the United States should try to overhype this election. This election is a sort of demarcation point, and what really counts now is the effort to have a legitimate political reconciliation, and it's going to take a massive diplomatic effort and a much more significant outreach to the international community than this administration has been willing to engage in. Absent that, we will not be successful in Iraq.

-- John Kerry

And I will say unequivocally today that what the administration does in these next few days will decide the outcome of Iraq, and this is--not maybe--this is the last chance for the president to get it right.

-- John Kerry

We are not doing today the kind of war footing effort to train people, the Iraqis, to take over their own security. And a year and a half has gone by, Tim, and it has been much of it wasted as a consequence of the administration's approach.

-- John Kerry

... I'm glad Saddam Hussein is gone, and I've said that a hundred times. But we've missed opportunity after opportunity along the way, Tim, to really make America safe and to bring the world to the cause.

-- John Kerry

We have reached the point that a prolonged American military presence in Iraq is no longer productive for either Iraq or the United States. The U.S. military presence has become part of the problem, not part of the solution.

-- Teddy Kennedy

As a result of our actions in Iraq, our respect and credibility around the world have reached all-time lows.

-- Teddy Kennedy

Never in our history has there been a more powerful, more painful example of the saying that those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.

-- Teddy Kennedy

The ending of the rule of Saddam Hussein was supposed to lessen violence and bring an irresistible wave of democracy to the Middle East. It hasn’t. Saddam Hussein’s capture was supposed to quell the violence. It didn’t. The transfer of sovereignty was supposed to be the breakthrough. It wasn’t. The military operation in Fallujah was supposed to break the back of the insurgency. It didn’t.

-- Teddy Kennedy

... Sunday’s election is not a cure for the violence and instability. Unless the Sunni and all the other communities in Iraq believe they have a stake in the outcome and a genuine role in drafting the new Iraqi constitution, the election could lead to greater alienation, greater escalation, and greater death – for us and for the Iraqis.

-- Teddy Kennedy

The insurgency is largely home-grown. By our own government’s own count, its ranks are large and growing larger. ... It’s clear that we don’t know how large the insurgency is. All we can say with certainty is that the insurgency is growing.

-- Ted Kennedy

Dr. Rice is a principal architect, implementer, and defender of a series of administration policies that have not made our country as secure as we should be and have alienated much-needed allies in our common cause of winning the war against terrorism. Regrettably, I did not see in Dr. Rice's testimony any acknowledgment of the need to change course or of a new vision for America's role in the world.

-- Barbara Boxer

I can't believe the Iraqis are buying into this "democracy" bull****.

-- ShinerTX
(typical Democratic Underground poster)

This Election is simply, in my estimation, an exercise in pretty pictures.

-- Daily Kos

You know, I really wish Iraq were having an honest, safe, real election. But that isn't happening, and that's a shame.

-- Oliver Willis

Are you getting the message yet? Good. Now go eat your crow quietly.