Well, the intellectual father of the modern conservative movement has now become “Defeatist” about Iraq, which Fox and the right wing machine would label “treason”

William F. Buckley Jr. says Iraq didn’t work, and that we should acknowledge defeat. He even understands that Saddam may have been necessary to keep the peace between the religious factions. [UPDATE — He’s done it again! Buckley commits more “treason” by suggesting Bush should resign.]

We know from constant repetition by Limbaugh - Hannity - Coulter, and O’Reilly that Defeatists are America-Haters, Seditious, and even Traitors. Buckley is empowering our enemies by his defeatism, and therefore has become an internal threat to our security, they would say [if Bill were a Democrat].

Since the penalty for “treason” is death, when the right wing calls anti-war Democrats treasonous they are calling for the death penalty in effect. A lot of us call this “eliminationist rhetoric”. See See this RadMod article for more about dangerous eliminationist rhetoric from irresponsible Republican media figures.

William F. Buckley Jr. on Iraq on National Review Online - “It Didn’t Work”

…….. And the kernel here is the acknowledgment of defeat.

[You’ve got to read the whole article —— this little quote above is NOT taken out of context. The whole article is about how we were wrong in our “postulate” that Iraq would embrace Democracy in order to have religious freedom. He concludes by talking about how commanders admit when they suffer a tactical defeat in a larger strategic struggle, and that Bush must admit defeat in Iraq.]