Rather than sit back passively and continue to approve Bush’s off-budget spending bill for operations in Iraq, which is apparently the strategy being pushed by Pelosi and Emanuel, Dennis Kucinich argues that Democrats should push back and confront Bush on the issue of his wasteful and futile “stay the course” policy by refusing to approve the administration’s supplemental funding request for the Iraq war (via Truthdig):
Truthdig: What was the upshot of [Tuesday’s] Democratic caucus meeting?
Kucinich: At this point the Democratic leadership—the speaker and the majority leader and Rahm Emanuel—are all recommending that the Democrats support the appropriation that is going to be brought forward in the spring, for the purposes of [continuing to fund] the war in Iraq.
Truthdig: Why do you think that is?
Kucinich: The leadership feels that they can bring about greater transparency [in spending], that they can bring special committees to look at what’s gone wrong with the war, and that there’s going to be improved oversight.
Truthdig: Were there dissenting opinions … ? Do you think this will pass?
Kucinich: I think this is going to be a serious test of the Democratic Party. We were put in power because people expected a new direction in Iraq. It goes without saying that they expect greater transparency and oversight, but they also expect us to do something to bring the troops home. Now, if Congress goes ahead under Democratic leadership and votes to approve what some are now estimating as an additional $160 billion for the war in Iraq, bringing the total for the fiscal year to $230 billion, the Democratic Congress will have bought George Bush’s war. Now, who would buy a used war from this administration?
Who would buy a used war from this administration? That’s not only a superb rhetorical question, it also exposes the truth about our current situation in Iraq and what Democrats should be doing about it. Kucinich is absolutely correct. Democrats won control of Congress in large part because the public is fed up with the Iraq war, wants our troops to come home and wants to stop throwing our tax dollars down the toilet in a useless attempt to “complete the mission” (whatever the current definition of that mission might be).
Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel are nuts if they believe the American public wants them to support more of the same. Republicans lost because they were Bush’s “rubber stamp” not because Democrats agreed to be all soft and squishy and let Bush continue to get his way on the issue of Iraq. This tactic of avoiding responsibility by going along with the administration’s proposal to sink another $200 plus billion into Bush’s Folly strikes me as profane, inane and insane. Kucinich was right to call “Bullshit” on them for it.
Frankly, there is no justification for the Democrats caving in to the administration’s demand for more Iraq war funding. The vast majority of Americans want our troops withdrawn from Iraq. Indeed, the most recent poll by AP-Ipsos indicates that 3 out of every 5 Americans want us out of Iraq within 6 months:
The survey found strong support for a two-year timetable if that’s what it took to get U.S. troops out. Seventy-one percent said they would favor a two-year timeline from now until sometime in 2008, but when people are asked instead about a six-month timeline for withdrawal that number drops to 60 percent.
Just an aside, but note how the AP’s own story down plays the significance of that 60% figure for those who support withdrawal within 6 months. Sixty percent represents a mandate for immediate withdrawal from Iraq to my way of thinking.
Here’s more from Truthdig’s’s interview of Kucinich:
Truthdig: What can people do?
Kucinich: People first of all need to know about this. … Unfortunately, our leadership is saying they’re supporting the supplemental as a way of supporting the troops. … People are now saying that they oppose the war, but they’re continuing to fund it in the name of supporting the troops.
They say they’re not going to abandon the troops in the field. We’re professing a strange love for these troops by keeping them there, because the money’s there to bring them home. So this is going to shape up as a major discussion across this country. People are going to want to know why Democrats would not bring the troops home now, when the money is there now.
Truthdig: For me this is really disheartening, because I feel like I have been lied to, and the American people have been lied to, because the [Democratic] Party was so against extra funds for the war. It’s almost like the party has done a bait-and-switch.
Kucinich: … I’m hopeful that this position will be reconsidered and that the Democrats will not vote to keep the war going. But at this point, if the Democrats go forward and support a supplemental which by some accounts is now rising to $160 billion, they’ll be providing enough money to keep the war going through the end of George Bush’s term. […]
Truthdig: Is there any hope to end the war now, and not go for this extra $160 billion in supplemental funds? Was there anything that happened in the room that gave you hope?
Kucinich: There’s a type of thinking which equates staying in Iraq as demonstrating strength. There’s a type of thinking which equates support for the supplemental with supporting the troops. This type of thinking is inherently flawed. It is circular in its nature. It will keep us in war. It will damn our troops to the horror of getting shot at from all sides. This is the time for Democrats to be uniting to exit from Iraq. […]
… Every statement that the president has made has been very clear with respect to his intent to continue the U.S. presence. He has basically said, “No timetables,” and he hasn’t set any call for troop reductions. Now, we have men and women who are dying there, and for what? That’s why it’s more than disappointing that the Democratic Party is not standing up.
Truthdig: So, again, what can people do?
Kucinich: I think it’s important for people to contact their member of Congress, and to let the member of Congress know how they feel. The people are also going to have to work their e-mail lists to pass the word, because not a lot of people know about this. It’s going to be important for people to organize. It’s going to take a mass movement to change this situation. It’s going to take a mass movement to really create such an uproar that approval of the supplemental will be stopped.
Spread the word.
Supplemental Appropriation Bill for Iraq