I continue to think that at the base, defunding the Iraq war and setting a firm timetable to leave is an emotional issue, rather than a political one... there is an impression that the Dems are attempting to "pull the rug out from under the Iraqi people" (Tony Snow yesterday) and Dems will abandon the troops... materially, armor, supplies, enforcements, medical support, and patriotically... But the US troops were abandoned by Rumsfeld when he said "you fight with the army you have" in answer to a soldier who asked why he had to scavenge in scrap heaps for sheet metal as an improvised armor.
Now, more than ever, I think the message should be "Who's war is this?" Where's the battleground? What's it for? Whose RESPONSIBILITY is this war? Who created all the fuck-ups leading to our present situation? Who was at the helm?? Who mishandled BILLIONS of Taxpayers Money... that can't be accounted for?? WHY did more than 3,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis die?
Who refused to listen to the senior military officers? Who promoted incompetency and fired, outed, disregarded, or silenced the voice of the competent and experienced?
Step one: assign ownership of the problem. If a contractor builds a house disregarding the building code, and the thing falls down, don't hire them to build another house. Find competence.
Step two: identify the most competent team to handle it;
Step three: be sane about it... don't keep repeating the same thing expecting different results
Step four: Follow through
Democrats ought to get together around a sane plan like that of Barbara Lee. Set a date and stick to it. No more billions provided for a war long spiralled out of control.
Compromise will cost more lives. This is the fundamental cornerstone of the military code... don't do anything that will get your soldiers killed. On this point alone GWB & Co should be brought to justice. This ought to be repeated... putting more troops into that hellhole is criminal
I sincerely think that constantly coming back to the tragic and criminal waste and those responsible, and reminding the public that it's their money, and their childrens' lives that have been wasted will bring the public, the Congress and the Senate to the point where they draw a firm line limiting the amount of time, money and lives they will spend in this tragic and criminal war. And stick to it.
I strongly oppose the Supplemental Iraq Funding Bill
The Out of Iraq Caucus has a better plan.
I support the Lee, Woolsey and Waters legislation
One Lone Voice in the House of Representatives
Iraq pullout deadline advances in House, fails in Senate
March 15, 2007
In the House, only one committee Democrat, liberal Rep. Barbara Lee of California, voted against her party's plan, saying it did not go far enough. "I believe the American people sent a mandate to us to bring home our men and women before the end of the year," she said.
Overall, the committee vote strongly suggested that Democrats will be able to push their troop withdrawal timetable through the full House next week. Even so, there is little if any prospect the Senate will agree to anything remotely similar. And even if it does, Bush's threatened veto would force Pelosi and other war critics back to the drafting table.