The topic below was originally posted in my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal on January 11th.
It’s not possible to be a little bit pregnant. Yet the Bush Administration prosecuted the Iraq War as if they were awaiting the results of a pregnancy test. Under Donald Rumsfeld the Pentagon tried to win on the cheap. Without boots on the ground however order could not be established after Saddam fell.
In 2004, President Bush ridiculed John Kerry during his re-election campaign for suggesting more troops were required. In his twenty minute speech Wednesday night the President finally acknowledged an insufficient number of troops resulted in chaos. Iraq was a war of choice and Bush waged it with timidity while claiming the fate of western civilization was at stake.
Of course this war was never about weapons of mass destruction, democracy, liberating people, empowering moderate Islam or saving western civilization. Thousands of young soldiers and who the hell knows how many Iraqis at this point have died for war profiteering, oil and to market George Bush as a magnificent war leader. Iraq was a neat diversion allowing Bush and his cronies to steal billions of dollars.
Underneath all the rhetoric about winning and catastrophic consequences if we don’t prevail is the truth. The simple truth is that 20,000 troops will not make a strategic difference. At this point military tactics are useless. The best we can hope for is containing the violence within Iraq’s borders until they grow tired of killing each other.
A policy of containment is despicable because it leaves Iraqis in the lurch after we wrecked their country. Shamefully, Bush/Cheney’s incompetetence leaves us no choice. Our military presence will not facilitate a political solution. Containment is the only viable option left through a strategic redeployment.
The Bush/Cheney Administration is aware of this reality. They’re not as stupid as many people think they are. Hence, the “surge” is not about winning. Bush/Cheney are hoping to kick the can down the road with Iraq. They don’t want a helicopter lifting off the rooftop in Saigon moment happening on their watch. They prefer retreat to take place under the next president. If some more American soldiers must die or become permanently wounded, so be it. They don’t care.
Meanwhile, these insipid sociopaths are hoping they can divert us into another war by blaming the Iranians and Syrians for our failures in Iraq. It’s not hard to imagine another speech in five or six months claiming all of Iraq’s problems will be solved if we topple the regimes in Teheran and Damascus. The neocons especially want a crack at Iran. Finishing the job right in Afghanistan is not sexy enough for the neocons. They’re a waste of skin.
A wise office colleague of mine wonders why the neocons have stopped distancing themselves from the Bush Administration and embraced “the surge.” It had become fashionable for intellectual elitist right wing crazies such as William Kristol to diss the Bush Administration about Iraq but lately they’ve been having love-ins. Perhaps the neocons know this surge is a pretext to widen the war and go into Iran? Just as Nixon’s escalation in 1970 resulted in an illegal invasion of Cambodia? Are we going to let it happen?
Non-binding congressional resolutions make for nice symbolism and may demonstrate bipartisan opposition to the Bush regime. Congressional leaders are pushing for that and Republican legislators may see it as an easy way to voice their opposition without having to really confront their President. I hope such a resolution leads to stronger action by congress. By itself however a non-binding resolution is worth a bucket of warm spit. Lives are on the line. As I’ve written previously there are only three viable options to save our country:
1)Impeachment and removal of both President Bush and Vice President Cheney;
2)Invoking the War Powers Act;
3)Cut off funding.
CLICK HERE to contact your congressman and CLICK HERE to contact your Senator. Politics is not a spectator sport and apathy is unforgivable given the stakes. These people work for us and it’s your moral duty to make your voice heard.
Also, don’t be shy about writing editorials to your local newspaper. Even if they’re not published, letters to the editor may influence how newspapers cover the war and can have a ripple effect. Your obligation as a citizen doesn’t end on Election Day when your country continues to pursue a collision course with calamity.
