Should we start getting used to those words? Is there a way to fight the wave that seems to have overcome our foreign policy, starting a number of decades ago, but looking more and more like the offerings of nearly all republicans, too many Democrats and an unbelievable amount of our own Presidential candidates.
With such an overwhelming percentage of the American population being against any more of Iraq than is necessary to get our troops out, with no feasible or credible reason do be chest thumping at Iran and a resolution that overwhelmingly passed the Senate yesterday that all but dared Bush and Cheney to take military action against Iran, what else can one think?
I know that I don’t want to see this happen. And I know that many, MANY others in this country don’t want to see this either. However, our “leading candidates in a very strong field” (1) won’t commit to fully leaving Iraq, (2) have mentioned another 4 or 5 years of this waste of money and lives and (3) have no problem playing into a right wing and republican frame about national security, the situation in Iraq and the absolute insanity that would be an attack on Iran. So what does that give us?
Well, it gives us options like Dodd, who is the best candidate nobody has ever heard of. And that is the problem.
There is absolutely no end in sight for this occupation of Iraq. There isn’t even pretending anymore. Hell, even Friedman said that there shouldn’t be anymore Friedman Units. When did 50,000 troops for “the foreseeable future” become the bar? Oh, and what about Afghanistan and Pakistan – the two countries (other than Saudi Arabia) that we should be concerned with? Or a man named Osama bin-somethingorother?
We elected a whole bunch of Democrats who promised to get us to a point where there is less war, not more. And “doing all you can” is not nearly good enough, or honest. We need leaders that will be strong and bold and do the right thing – taking actions and not the status quo. We need fighters. What happened to the “new Congress in town”?
There is very little room for excuses when it comes to risking Americans’ lives. There is no excuse when that responsibility is abrogated for no reason that can be explained logically and factually without being purely political. This country is already bogged down in two occupations, has an unimaginable amount of debt, the housing market is crashing and the military-industrial complex keeps chugging along.
All that doesn’t even consider the amount of major problems that are facing the majority of the people in this country. Spending nearly all of our money, lives and effort on meaningless wars that are failing miserably is insane. Yet, all we are given is a date of 2013 and tens of thousands of troops in Iraq for who knows how long. And what now looks like 4 days wasted for the condemnation of a few words and ads.
Iraq is bad enough. Actually, words can no longer describe what Iraq actually “is”. And now, suddenly, the Senate has put Iran “on the table”? By a large margin, I might add. How is this anything BUT tacit approval for more aggressive action in further provoking an all out holy war in the Middle East.
This Lieberman/Kyl Amendment was a very dangerous one. And now, whatever unfolds in the Middle East will be hung around the necks of anyone who voted for this amendment. Or fell into the right wing frame on foreign policy and national security. Or failed to take bold action and a leadership role in doing everything possible to diffuse and prevent something with implications far exceeding any measurable level of arrogance and stupidity.
We are heading for never-ending war. An economy based on war. Outsourced war, so few profit greatly from it. Do we want to continue this policy? And how can we even stop this from continuing to unfold before us? Lives ending too soon and needlessly.
Is there anyone bold enough to stop it, and enough of a leader to step up at this crucial time in history?
We can’t afford for there not to have one.
