I’ve long been intrigued by the notion of alternate history. What if Robert E. Lee’s troop movements before the Battle of Antietam weren’t discovered by the Union wrapped around three cigars? What if Archduke Franz Ferdinand's car hadn't made that wrong turn? What if the United States had never entered the European theater in World War II? (Actually, we know the answer to this one, in the form of a hilariously tawdry novel by Newt Gingrich) What if Laura, my light, my love, my life, hadn't responded to my 4th grade Valentine by calling me a, and I quote, "Booger Face"?
While these "what if?"s are, more often than not, whimsical exercises of the imagination, I'd to like to focus this diary on a more recent, and easier to imagine, historical possibility:
What if the Republican Party hadn't stopped the Iraq War from ending?
On March 29th, 2007, every single Democrat in the Senate (sans Tim Johnson) voted to pass H.R. 1591, a bill that gave funding for the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, with a provision for a phased withdrawal of troops in Iraq starting in October of 2007. Our elected Democrats had done exactly what we asked them to do with our votes in November of 2006: pass legislation to end the War in Iraq.
Take a moment and think about that. Our party had done their duty and passed a law to bring our brave men and women home from Iraq. Just twenty-five days from now, in fact, the first units would begin to trickle home. Instead of the daily news regarding Iraq coming in the form of a "X soldiers killed, Y injured" article on page A8, every day would be greeted with photos of Fathers returning home to their children, photos of women returning home to their husbands, photos of young soldiers hugging their parents for the first time in far, far, too long.
But why isn't this alternate history a reality? Simply put, it's because of the Republican Party.
On May 1st, 2007, the Republican Party, as led by George Bush, vetoed the legislation passed by Congressional Democrats. The Republican Party, a now-minority cadre of hardliners in our government, stood up and said, loudly, "the war continues".
They are the reason that the timetable in Iraq is one of seemingly endless tragedy and bloodshed. They are the reason that our soldiers are not counting down the days until their return home in October. Republicans are the reason this war continues.
I think the timing of this diary is fairly obvious--the 0's and 1's of Daily Kos have been filled with complaints about Congressional Democrats' failure to end the War in Iraq. My intention here is not to dismiss those concerns out of hand; in fact, I think focusing our energies on our own side speaks to the wonderfully progressive ideal of realizing that "the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves", an ideal that the Republican Party lost a long, long time ago.
All I wish to say is that, as the beginning of October approaches, imagine a world where the Republicans hadn't continued this war. The war continues because of Republican President Bush's decision to continue the war. The war continue because Republican Congressmen continue to support President Bush.
Republicans who support this war have been, and will likely continue to be, the primary reason this war continues. As October approaches and the "should have been" of bringing our troops home slowly transforms into the "never was", let us not forget this simple fact.