Today, right now, members of our political leadership are holding hostages.
The President, the Vice President, and the Republican members of Congress are ransoming our soldiers for one hundred billion dollars.
The entire idea that curtailing the war funding will somehow hurt the troops follows from the premise that Bush would keep them in Iraq even if supplies and equipment stopped coming,* and even if Congress curtailed the authorization for their mission.
Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said the conditions pushed by Democrats would cut the number of U.S. combat troops in Iraq and "leave gaps on the battlefield."
In other words, if the Democrats exercise their lawful power to end the war, if the authorization is too narrow and the funds too short for the troops to operate as before, rather than withdraw them, we're just going to leave them out there to die.
If they actually gave a whit about the consent of the governed and the lives of our soldiers, they would withdraw the Army. But that's irrelevant; they're in it for the power and the money. It's fund the Republicans' war, or else they'll let the troops die.
Nice Army you got there. Would hate to see anything happen to it.
It's straight-up strong-arm mafia tactics -- the Halliburton crime family.
That's the political level. On the personal level, Bush/Cheney has our troops in the squeeze. Just look at Lt. Ehren Watada.** Nuremburg says that if you follow an illegal order, you'll be punished. But if you disobey an illegal order, they'll punish you then too because the legality of the order is out of bounds for the court martial. The state is saying that if you don't put yourself at risk for war crimes prosecution, they'll throw you in jail. Do the hit, or we'll frame you for another crime. Perfection.
Don't cave to the mob, Democrats. Stand your ground and end this war. We're cleaning up this town, and we've got your back.
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* Leaving aside the fact that Bush has already deployed our soldiers with dangerously insufficient equipment, and of course in catastrophically insufficient numbers. To carry out an illegal war.
** Perhaps the single most consequentially patriotic American today.