The Dems should use the "Shift Doctrine"

I recently read this article on how the Repubs are using the Terror War to justify Iraq and it got me thinking. What the Dems need is to stop the perception of them being Cut-And-Runners. What they should do is call for a "Shift of Troops" from Iraq to Afghanistan. They need to loudly make the argument that staying in Iraq is preventing our troops from "smashing Al-Quida once and for all."

They should call it the "Shift in Operational Priorities Plan" or simply the "Shift Doctrine." They first have to make the case that the Terror War must be fought in its main theatre. This means our troops must be in that mountainous region between Afghanistan and Pakistan and not dodging roadside bombs in Tikrit. They need to say that the Iraqis are able to stand up on their own (not might be, or could be in some undefined future time.) Since the Iraqis are ready then the US priorities must be shifted into "eradicating all Al-Quida influence" in that Afghan border region.

The Dems need to say that "Al-Quida our most dangerous enemy" is hiding in Afghanistan and we don't have enough "boots on the ground" to flush them out. They should say that the best way to flush them out would be to shift "combat trained soldiers" from the "Iraqi Theatre" to the "Afghanistani Theatre." They need to say something like "300,000 more troops, forged in the crucible of Iraq, need to be injected into the Afghanistani Theatre to sound the death knell of Al-Quida influence in that region forever."

They can then use the visual of "Al-Quida types" hiding in that area thumbing their nose at the inadequate American presence in a region that they run as a mini-fiefdom. "Al-Quida types" are free to "plot and plan" knowing that our troops in Iraq are not "hunting them down in their mountain hideaways." The "Al-Quida types" are still hatching plots like the foiled London plane bombing knowing that there are not enough US troops putting pressure on them. In this case they could use Bush's rhetoric against him.

They also need to stop using "bogged down in Iraq" so much because it makes the Dems sound like they are saying "its a big mess so we have the run away ASAP." They need to emphasize that the Iraqis are ready and we are needed elsewhere.

Finally, the Dems really need to make sure they amp up the use all of this military rhetoric as well. All of the words in quotes should be like codewords the Dems can use to say that we aren't soft on terror, defense, are anti-military etc. I think this military rhetoric offensive would sound the best out of guys like Wes Clark, John Kerry, and John Murtha. They need to make sure that anti-military types like Hillary don't parrot this stuff to lessen its impact.