Cartoon inaccurate, cheap shot at president

It is very easy to be sarcastic about the president of the United States without justification. In Wednesday’s Oracle, a political cartoon was published that showed President Bush riding a tank on a large bomb labeled Iraq toward a smaller bomb labeled Iran. The president said, “Dang, I should’ve brought one of them exit strategy thingies with me … “

The annoying problem with this cartoon is the fact that there is absolutely no reason to believe there isn’t an exit plan for Iraq. It has been stated a thousand times: continue to clean up remaining terrorists and help the Iraqi government and military gain control of their country, then gradually pull out. How many times does the Bush administration have to reiterate this?

The fact is that liberal politicians, journalists, comedians and cartoonists just kept reciting this fallacy until regular people began believing it. The people who truly believe this either are too lazy to look up information on their own or wanted another weak excuse for Bush-bashing without evidence.

What plan have the Democrats suggested? So far, all I’ve heard of was a letter written by Nancy Pelosi and other congressional Democrats to the Bush administration that detailed their plan for leaving Iraq. This plan was identical to the Bush administration’s plan except for one flaw that would ensure civil war after American troops left: a timetable for withdrawal.

Anyone with common sense knows a timetable is simply going to let the terrorists wait until America has left and gather strength. This will allow them to become more organized and topple the Iraqi government when America is gone.

If false accusations are constantly made, people will eventually begin to believe them. For instance, many people are ignorant enough to believe Saddam Hussein never had weapons of mass destruction. These people seem to forget that sarin gas was used in 1987 against the Kurdish population of Iraq and depleted uranium shells have been unearthed by American troops.

It doesn’t matter, though. Those who honestly believe the White House has not told them what the plan is for leaving Iraq are illogical and can’t be reasoned with in the first place.

Brian Milhoan is a sophomore majoring in criminology.