A previous entry on DailyKos (thanks to DWG for the link...) related Barack Obama’s concern that, should Congress defund the war, Bush would dig in his heels and refuse to pull out the troops.
I can definitely understand Obama’s concern: this president is undoubtedly a megalomaniac (if not an outright sociopath), and I have no doubt he would put the troops in even greater danger in order to "salvage" his presidential legacy. After all, he has shown no compunction about placing overstressed, ill-equipped, outnumbered and undertrained troops in harm’s way, all the while using outright lies in order to start and perpetuate the war in which they are engaged.
Meanwhile, Harry Reid recently stated emphatically on Charlie Rose that Democrats would not defund the war. (I will resist the urge to digress into a rant on Harry Reid, other than to say "Can we not find a progressive candidate to run against this spineless cipher?").
I would like to make a suggestion that I think the Democrats can get behind: that is to defund the war and call for troop withdrawal ASAP (I say immediate, but others say immediate is not possible). This will paint Bush into a corner: if he insists on keeping the soldiers in Iraq in order to show "who’s boss", then the Dems can vote for emergency appropriations to fund the troops. This will achieve the following:
- Democrats will have finally done their Constitutional duty in providing war oversight; and
- Bush will reveal himself to the world as the maniac that he is.
In short: defund the war, but be prepared to vote emergency appropriations for the troops when Bush leaves them on their own. Sadly, this is all the Dems can do. But they will at least have finally done their jobs. I think this is an idea we should advocate strongly to the Democratic leadership in Congress.
PS This is my first diary, so please be gentle with your criticism.