A Terrible Idea

AP reports: “A small group of Republicans facing election fights next year have rallied around war legislation they think could unite the GOP: a call for an end to U.S. combat in Iraq, but not until President Bush is out of office.”

A few months ago, we were told by many Republicans to “wait until September” before we judged whether or not the surge is working. We need to evaluate the evidence, they said! Now they want us to wait another 16 months until President Bush is out of office and only then pull the plug, without any more blather about evaluating the evidence at that time?

If Iraq is seen to be a bad idea 16 months from now, it is an equally bad idea today. In fact, it is a terrible, horrendous, disgusting idea today.

The hypothetical Republican legislation reported above leaves the Decider guy (that’s President Bush, you know) to mismanage the war for another 16 months. It sends another thousand or so Americans to their death. It will result in thousands more American injuries, and some of those injured in the next 16 months will be maimed and require life-long medical care. It disrupts the lives of our 150,000 troops for 16 more months, whose families and personal lives have been horribly disrupted already. It wastes (as a guess) 200 billion dollars more, money that is desperately needed at home. It decimates our armed forces and makes us unresponsive to other global threats, for years to come after we finally get out of Iraq. It does not make us any safer. It does nothing to stop terrorism (as Iraq was never about terrorism). It does nothing to catch Osama bin Laden. It does nothing to make things better in Iraq.

I suppose, however, this new legislation would allow Republicans to sound like they want to get us out of Iraq, but without having to challenge the Decider guy or to hurt his feelings. What cowardly Republicans they are. This is why I said the idea of waiting 16 months to stop the war is disgusting. It is apparently more important to not cross the President and provide some cover for themselves when they run for re-election than to save the lives and health of our troops.

What is even more frustrating is that Democrats should be chanting the above criticisms of such an approach today. And tomorrow. And every day. Democrats need to tell the American public, every single day, what the true costs of the Iraq war are. We don’t see them doing that, but we keep hoping that one day the Democrats will actually lead on these issues, and shape the narrative. Until then, I shall write more letters to my Congressmen, and hope and pray.

Joe Lieberman: Out of Touch?

I can’t understand why television networks continue to put Joe Lieberman on their network. His comments are always out of touch, or deliberately misleading. Here’s what he said yesterday: “Give the American soldiers a break. It’s as if the American troops have the enemy on one side and Congress is sniping at their heels on the other side.”

Let see, how many ways can Lieberman be wrong? There are no Congressmen sniping at the heels of our troops. Not one. There are Congressmen (mostly Democrats) sniping at the heels of the troops’ civilian leadership. I suppose that’s a distinction that is too difficult for Joe to grasp.

Lieberman’s crappy statement is wrong on another level as well. If we wanted to give the soldiers a break, we would end the war bring them home so they can resume their shattered lives, or at least not return them to combat until they have had sufficient rest. Joe, you have not done a thing to end the war or to ease the soldiers plight in any way shape or form.

In fact, recently, Lieberman failed to show up for a funeral for a soldier from Connecticut who was killed in the Joe Lieberman war. This led Tparty at My Left Nutmeg to dig up Lieberman’s duplicitous speech as his primary campaign was foundering last year.

I know as well as anyone we have made a lot of mistakes in Iraq and we have suffered more casualties than we should have. Don’t think for a minute I do not grieve for every casualty of this war.

In fact, as someone who voted for the war, I feel a heavy responsibility to try to end it as quickly and successfully as possible.

I have been to the front lines four times. I have been to Walter Reed and visited the brave men and women who have suffered awful injuries and sacrificed for their country the way Max Cleland did. I have visited with the families who have been devastated by the death of a son or daughter, a husband or a wife.

The last thing I want to do is needlessly add to that kind of heartbreak. I want to get our troops home as fast as anyone, probably more than most, and as I have repeatedly said, I am against an open-ended commitment.

You disgust me, Joe.

Update (7/11/07): CNN’s Michael Ware, reporting from Baghdad, says: “I’m afraid that Senator Lieberman has taken an excursion into fantasy.”

Where Are Those Republicans Now?

Think Progress has a nice study of those who were involved in the planning of the Iraq war. Seems they have all prospered either inside the Bush Administration, and none have been penalized for their incompetence.

How about those Republican Senators who voted to convict President Bill Clinton of charges of perjury and obstruction of justice when Clinton was impeached in 1999? Of those Republican Senators, 25 are still in office, and not one of them has spoken a single public word about President Bush’s commutation of the sentence against I. Lewis Libby, despite their impassioned rhetoric against Clinton and why it is not proper to lie.

And then there is Fred Thompson, formerly minority counsel for the Senate Watergate Committee in 1973. Thompson, now a likely candidate for president as a Republican, seems like a hero on his website and in his book for his role in Watergate. However, according to a Democratic investigator for the committee, Scott Armstrong, quoted in The Boston Globe: “Thompson was a mole for the White House. Fred was working hammer and tong to defeat the investigation of finding out what happened to authorize Watergate and find out what the role of the president was.” Naturally, Thompson believes I. Lewis Libby deserves a full pardon.

Lovely history of these Republicans, isn’t it? Kind of makes me proud I have never been a Republican.

Arrrrgh!

It seems to me that a lot of people voted for Democrats in the last election because they wanted to change the direction of the Iraq War, and to eliminate the corruption that has become systematic with Republicans in charge.

So what happens? It appears that the Democrats will cave in to President Bush and give him another blank check. This is incredibly frustrating … why did we vote for Democrats in the first place? What good is it to have them in charge of Congress, they have the power of the purse, and they won’t use it?

In the past year, as I discussed over at DragonFlyEye, I have written, e-mailed, signed petitions and phoned my Congresscritters explaining why they needed to step up and stop the madness of King George. And now that the blank check is about to be voted on, what else can I do? I don’t think I can do anything more. One more phone call isn’t going to change anything.

So I’m taking a break from politics for a few days. I’m not even going to read or watch the news. It’s a politics free weekend for me. A weekend that includes ribs on the barbecue and sporting events on the TV. You have a great weekend too.

Thank You!

A big thank you to Congress, for voting to set a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

Another big thank you to the American people, who wised up after many years of disastrous Rethuglican government, to vote for a change of direction and to install a Democratic-led Congress — the same American people, the majority of whom now want to see a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, and only 28% of whom now think President Bush is doing a good job.

Finally, a big thank you to Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who today submitted a bill calling for the impeachment of Vice President Cheney. Kucinich backs up his bill with lots of documentation. Now we need other Congressmen with similar amount of nerve as Kucinich. I will be writing letters.

Freeway Blogger (Copycat) Visits Rochester

Today the Freeway Blogger (or a copycat) posted a sign on an overpass over Route 590 (I think it was the N. Winton Road overpass, but I’m not 100% sure) that said “Out of Iraq” over the southbound lanes and “Troops Home Now” over the northbound lanes. Nice job!

Why Can’t Democrats Understand This?

Paul Krugman, writing in New York Times Select, states (via):

But the Democratic presidential candidates — Mr. Obama in particular — have been facing a lot of pressure from the base to get specific about what they’re proposing. And the base is doing them a favor … There’s no conflict between catering to the Democratic base and staking out positions that can win in the 2008 election, because the things the base wants — an end to the Iraq war, a guarantee of health insurance for all — are also things that the country as a whole supports. The only risk the party now faces is excessive caution on the part of its politicians. Or, to coin a phrase, the only thing Democrats have to fear is fear itself.

This seems simple enough. A majority of Americans want us out of Iraq, sooner rather than later. A large majority of Americans, according to poll after poll, want universal health care. Why aren’t Democratic candidates jumping on this and enthusiastically supporting these issues?