Dick Durbin, Illinois' senior senator and majority whip, has betrayed-us on Iraq funding, along with the rest of the Senate, save for Feingold (bless him!)
I'm dismayed by Senator Durbin's doublespeak. He gave
a speech to the Center for National Policy on September 7, 2007 (link below) where he expressed his opposition to more blank checks to the Bush administration for the occupation of Iraq. But as you can see in The Nation article below, he, Harry Reid, and every Democratic Senator
who was present for the vote (except for Russ Feingold, bless him!)
have voted yet another blank check.
Funding of Bush's occupation of Iraq is killing and dismembering our
troops. Dick Durbin is enabling the Casualty Creation Machine, and he's being deceptive about it, too.
I'm a member of Military Families Speak Out (mfso.org, a non-partisan
organization), and I have a son deployed to Iraq. I've lobbied Senator Durbin and his staff, extensively and patiently, for months (they know me ; - ) to stop enabling this misuse and abuse of our troops.
I'm not a Republican or a Democrat; I'm an independent Independent, and that's how I like it. I have no partisan loyalties which interfere with my priorities, which include valuing, respecting, and conserving our Armed Forces for their Constitutionally-defined purpose, i.e., the common defense of this nation. It angers me that the Executive branch is wrecking our Armed Forces and this nation, and it doubly angers me that Congressional leadership is play-acting the role of helpless bystander and saying, "Isn't it awful?" while shoveling more coal into the Casualty Creation Machine and then denying that they are.
My view is that the Senate should be a bulwark against an out-of-control Executive branch which is on a binge of destruction. I urge anyone, especially Illinois residents, who seriously want our troops out of the Iraq hellhole to contact Dick Durbin and tell him to stop authorizing new funds except those for safe, orderly re-deployment in earnest and without further delay.
Also tell him you expect he, Harry Reid, and their colleagues to use
their individual votes, leadership positions, Senate know-how, and
creative use of the power of the purse, to bulldoze the path and lead this re-deployment, no excuses accepted.
An alternate choice? Do nothing, and be content to let American troops burn in Iraq.
Capitol switchboard: 800 828-0498 800 614-2803
Durbin's Springfield office: 217 492-4062
John Nichols
Fri Sep 28, 10:48 AM ET
Congress Quietly Approves Billions More for Iraq War
The Nation -- The Senate agreed on Thursday to increase the federal
debt limit by $850 billion -- from $8.965 trillion to $9.815
trillion -- and then proceeded to approve a stop-gap spending bill
that gives the Bush White House at least $9 billion in new funding
for its war in Iraq.
Additionally, the administration has been given emergency authority
to tap further into a $70 billion "bridge fund" to provide new
infusions of money for the occupation while the Congress works on
appropriations bills for the Department of Defense and other
agencies.
Translation: Under the guise of a stop-gap spending bill that is
simply supposed to keep the government running until a long-delayed
appropriations process is completed -- probably in November -- the
Congress has just approved a massive increase in war funding.
Senator Durbin's "No blank checks" speech Full text of The Nation article Tom Tomorrow's "This Modern World" take, knee-slappin' hilarious!