UPDATE: Alert the media! The Republicans have a new strategy on Iraq: strong, steady and WRONG. Look mom and dad, we can “stay the course” forever! Yippee!!! God forbid we admit our mistakes and correct our course, because that's what grown ups do; especially when you're in charge of sending people into war and you've botched the entire enterprise. The Republicans think this is all about them. They could care less about our troops and that the mission creep is killing them and this country, now and into the future. A new acquaintance of mine, who is an expert on foreign affairs, has it right:
Wars are good for toppling governments. But war is a very, very bad method of establishing infrastructure and institutions. There is a vast difference between promoting democracy and imposing it. The latter is a recipe for war, economic injury, and, eventually, reactionary isolationism. – Alex Rossmiller
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| Now over 2500 and counting… |
I am ashamed. Ashamed of the United States Congress. Ashamed of the president,
that he could let this happen. Disgusted with the politicians in Washington
that are perpetrating this fraud over a war that was long ago no longer our
fight to wage.
Our soldiers finished their job the day Saddam was caught.
What are we still doing in Iraq?
Protecting the president and his party's collective ego? The thought of it
makes me physically ill, especially after standing at The Wall yesterday.
The deaths, wounds and blood of our soldiers and the Iraqi citizens are on the
Republicans' hands, as well as people like Hillary Clinton and other faux hawks
who refuse to admit when they are wrong and change direction now.
But there is something else that infuriates me.
Many people are still harping on John Kerry and what he didn't do in 2004,
making yesterday the issue. I find that irresponsible and reprehensible. It
is a luxury we do not have and cannot afford, especially when the man has come out and opened
his political heart to us all, yet one more time.
What do you want from the man that he has not already offered?
Kerry's speech in D.C. this week said it all. His vote for the war was a mistake.
He talked for thirty minutes on Iraq and the horrors of war, especially wars
that are wrongly engaged. Democrats, progressives and liberals have to decide
if a man standing up and being willing to lead us in a new direction is worthy
of reevaluation. I'm disgusted with people on our side of the political fence
who will not acknowledge that what John Kerry is doing with his resolution to
get out of Iraq matters, is important and worthy of support.
As for the Republicans, I'm ashamed and sickened by all of them.
Any Democratic hawk who believes in “stay the course,” only do it our way,
is no better. However, nothing is as cynical and politically insulting as the
USE THE TROOPS ploy now being utilized by the Republican House. If the American people fall for this ploy in 2006 they deserve the government they get.
Already, the resolution itself — declaring that the United States will complete
the mission to create a sovereign, free, secure and united Iraq and will prevail
in the global war on terror — has attracted strong criticism from lawmakers
in both parties. Democrats and antiwar Republicans object to the linkage between
the war in Iraq and the fight against terrorism, while some Republicans have
said it sets unrealistic goals. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.), who supports
the war, called the resolution “strategically nebulous and morally obtuse.”But the strongest misgivings may be practical. Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) called
the entire exercise “a dumb idea” that will highlight precisely
the issue that is threatening Republican political fortunes.“When the country is war-weary, when the violence is still playing out
on TV, I don't know why we want to highlight all that,” he said.But Gilchrest, who won the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his Marine service
in Vietnam in the 1960s, believes political considerations have already played
too large a role in the debate. In November, after Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.)
announced his support for a rapid withdrawal from Iraq, Republican leaders
hastily pushed a resolution to the House floor calling for immediate pull-out.
But the cursory two-hour debate was noteworthy less for serious policy discourse
than for the suggestion by the House's newest member, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio),
that Murtha, a decorated war veteran, was a coward.“It was ludicrous,” Gilchrest said. “It had nothing to do
with saving lives. It had nothing to do with the war. It was one-upsmanship
against the Democrats.”GOP
Measure Forces House Debate on War
Divisions Within Party Likely to Surface
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