This has to be one of the most appalling things I've ever seen on FoxNews. Dick Morris has finally made explicit an argument that has long been implicit in the rhetoric of many Iraq war supporters. Via ThinkProgress, here's Morris on Fox:
MORRIS: I think that withdrawal from Iraq — it obviously gives al Qaeda a huge victory. Huge victory. On the other hand, if we stay in Iraq, it gives them the opportunity to kill more Americans, which they really like.
One of the things, though, that I think the antiwar crowd has not considered is that, if we’re putting the Americans right within their arms’ reach, they don’t have to come to Wall Street to kill Americans. They don’t have to knock down the trade center. They can do it around the corner, and convenience is a big factor when you’re a terrorist.
Considering that I'm probably someone Morris would consider part of "the anti-war crowd," let me respond to this directly. I have considered this thought. And I've rejected it.
Leaving aside the whole nonsensical notion that a bunch of local, home grown insurgents are going to "follow us home," the idea that we would send our young men and women off to another land to act as some sort of human shield is morally repugnant. It's one thing to ask them to sacrifice their lives on behalf of some larger national mission or goal, but it is another thing entirely to ask that such a sacrifice be the goal itself. That is what Morris is suggesting here. In his world, we've sent our soldiers off to Iraq to act as more "convenient" targets than the ones here at home.
People like Morris chastise "the anti-war crowd" every time we speak up and demand that this war end. "What kind of message does that send to the troops," they piously ask. We want them all to come home safely; Morris, by contrast, apparently wants some of them to die so that he doesn't have to.
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