To the powers that be of the Democratic Party:
The Bush/Cheney “administration” has begun an intense drum beat in an attempt to line up public support for an attack.
Their game plan appears to be quite simple: make unratified and false claims and spread speculation about Iran’s proximity to having a nuclear bomb, inject rumors that we may strike with nuclear weapons, and thus make a conventional campaign against Iran appear to be a reasonable course of action.
Déjà Vu? Ground hog day?
Crossposted at Daily Kos.
Well, given what happened with Iraq, it is unfathomable, and in fact preposterous, for any sane person to even entertain a discussion of another preemptive war, much less take sides on it, unless a grave and present threat portends.
Let’s deal with the situation head on, shall we?
If no reasoned counter arguments are placed into the debate, and as the opposition party, that responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of the Democratic party leaders, the public opinion will then be shaped in favor of some form of an attack.
When that happens, it will reflect in the polls (as was the case with Iraq), subsequent to which, it will become very hard to stake out a position against an attack for the fear of an electoral backlash come November.
Lo and behold, since I prepared the first draft of this post yesterday, there did appear an LA Times push poll. And what did it say?
Q: Suppose George W. Bush decides to order military action against Iran, which action would you support:
Airstrikes/no ground troops: 44%
No military action: 20%
Combination of airstrikes and ground troops: 19%
Ground troops: 6%
Don’t know: 11%
Get the point? Do you see what results from inaction, my fair Democrats?
What does all this mean?
It means that you folks need to wake up, step out of the woodwork and start doing justice to your presence as elected officials, and to uphold your respective oaths of office.
Ask the questions that need to be asked. Demand the truth. And summarily oppose Bogus Preemptive Warfare against sovereign nations.
It is a long standing international understanding that no sovereign nation may attack another, except in self-defense. The presence of a future threat from the foreign nation, unless it is in the immediate future, and unless it is utterly credible, and unless the nation in question defies all diplomatic and alternate measures, is not grounds for breaching this understanding.
No one wishes to see an Iranian leadership with nuclear arsenal at their disposal, and they are obligated under the NPT not to build nuclear weapons. Now, Iran probably does want to build those deadly arms, but by most accounts, it appears to be some 10 years away from having the capability to build nukes. If someone claims otherwise, they’ll need to show incontrovertible evidence to the contrary.
Has the administration presented such a case, perhaps in closed door session? We weren’t born yesterday to think that they did. Even if they have assembled or perhaps manufactured one such case, given how they misled and obfuscated in the case of Iraq, what kind a fool is going to allow themselves to be lied to about a bogus preemptive war, yet another time?
Who is asking the tough questions? Why aren’t the Democrats getting out on talk shows and calling the integrity and credibility of the administration into question on this matter?
Further, given how they bungled the execution of the Iraq war, is the “administration” even competent enough to wage another war?
Can the United States afford another bogus war and remain a respected nation in the eyes of the people around the world? With the unwarranted, illegitimate, and ultimately incompetently executed Iraq campaign, the country lost many friends around the world, which, incidentally can also reflect in other national interests such as trade effectiveness (favorable or unfavorable views about the US can and do influence buying decisions on American products by individuals abroad).
Making the same blunder of majestic proportion again will have far reaching adverse consequences for a long time to come.
In a nut shell, this administration does not have a shred of credibility left to launch another war, much less a preemptive one.
This is an administration that would get their butts kicked out of power in just about any other Democratic nation around the planet. Allowing them a free ride in launching another war to further their own nefarious agenda is inexcusable and unpardonable.
The Democratic leadership and members of congress need to rise up before it becomes too difficult to do so, and do the right thing.
The question I ask all you, 245 Democrats in the US Congress, all intelligent and wise, is this:
are you doing your due diligence?
Are you?
Your silence will be tantamount to complicity.
Sen. Reid and Rep. Pelosi, please consider this your moment of Zen and show us the true colors of your leadership. And do so as a unified party front.
Gov. Dean, it’s a shame to see you locked up behind the DNC wall at many crucial junctures such as the present one. But, we understand that you are there for a good cause. Notwithstanding, it is time for you to break loose from the shackles imposed on you, and speak free.
After all, as you build the party and make your push for a Democratic victory in 2006, and we all support you wholeheartedly towards that goal, you are also called upon by your supporters and the current and prospective Democratic voters to present a defensible Democratic platform and record, and hence you really have no choice but to speak up before another deadly and costly war is put into motion, even if the congressional democrats would rather that you did not.
Thank you.
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To the reader, there is a petition started by Steven D, addressed to Gen. Pace with the following preamble:
Open Letter To The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Target: Peter Pace, General, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Sponsor: Steven SearlsAn Open Letter to General Peter Pace and all members of the United
States Armed Forces advising them not to obey any order by the
President to attack Iran with forces of the US military absent a formal
Declaration of War or other resolution authorizing such use of force
from the Congress.
Read/sign the petition.
If you agree with the premise of the petition, please sign it, and promote it by sending the link to as many people in your circle as possible.
Also, it is a good idea to start our your own drum beat against this unbelievably ridiculous proposition for another war. Please spread the word in as many ways as you can:
- post diaries with useful information and opinion on this subject at will
- contact your members of congress and demand them to come through
- create your own blog and propagate the message.
Thank you.