Frank Sesno's own "words": U.S. could "cut and run" from Iraq

On the July 12 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, discussing a possible American pullout from Iraq, CNN special correspondent Frank Sesno recounted a conversation with "a senior Arab diplomat who is very worried that the United States could precipitously cut and run -- not his words -- but leave." If "not his words" -- that is, those of the "senior Arab diplomat" -- then "cut and run" was presumably Sesno's word choice to describe plans for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

As Media Matters for America has documented, "cut and run" was a staple attack label used by Republicans during the 2006 midterm election season to smear Democrats urging that the U.S. redeploy troops from Iraq. The phrase has been widely repeated in the media, including on CNN (here, here, and here).

From the July 12 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

SESNO: So, what if the U.S. pulled back or out? This [explosion sound clip] will not go away. It's likely to get worse, and it could spread. Iran will not suddenly make nice. Al Qaeda will not call the whole thing off. No good options.

[Former Secretary of Defense] Donald Rumsfeld suddenly comes to mind, not for his role in the war -- we'll save that for another day -- but because he often said democracies often have a hard time fighting long wars. He got that right.

The question in Washington really isn't "What if?" but "When?"

The question "when," though, is -- is a big one. And even [Senate Majority Whip] Dick Durbin [IL], the leading Democrat, says if the U.S. were to leave cold turkey, the region could descend into chaos. But I want to draw your attention to this map of the United States. See those states? You know what they have in common?

WOLF BLITZER [anchor]: No.

SESNO: What they have in common is at least one Republican senator who has distanced themselves -- in some cases, broken with the president of the United States. Eleven of them at least, by our count, there you see -- and that's the pressure that's on the president right now. So the "what if America leaves Iraq" only intensifies and becomes a very real question for the White House.

BLITZER: What's the view, though, from the region, Frank?

SESNO: There is enormous concern in the region. We don't talk about that very much. But I was having a conversation last night, a fascinating one, with a senior Arab diplomat who is very worried that the United States could precipitously cut and run -- not his words -- but leave. And that, he says, would leave a vacuum. And nature abhors a vacuum.

—B.J.L.