I've never seen such cowardice as is evident in our `leaders' today. What could possibly be worse than being called a Liberal? Or a radical left-winger? Or a flip-flopper? Or an appeaser? Or a Cut and Runner?
(more below the fold...)
Since when is such drivel accorded the respect we once reserved for the truth?
How many vital and decent young Americans with their lives still ahead of them must be sacrificed because people in power are afraid of the labels that may be attached to them? That's a rhetorical question, no one can answer it with any accuracy, but hopefully it makes its point.
Democrats Should Offer Voters a Choice on Iraq
By Helen Thomas, Hearst Newspapers. Posted September 1, 2006.
The war and the U.S. occupation of Iraq are certainly going to be the crowning issues in the Nov. 7 mid-term elections.
That's why it's time for the Democratic candidates to bite the bullet (excuse the expression) and call for an immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.
We don't need more phony timetables to prolong the agony. We need a quick exit from a bad show.
It's distressing that The Washington Post has found that most Democrats in competitive congressional races are resisting pressure to call for a speedy pullout. These spineless Democrats are apparently frightened by the prospect that the Bush administration would use the "cut-and-run" fear card against them. Source
Helen Thomas, one of the few journalistic heroes left in America is telling it like it is. The question is, are the Democrats smart enough to hear her? I am personally hoping so - but fearing not.
Many of our `leaders' are terrified by the `cut and run' label. They are so filled by it with unreasoning fear that they are allowing it to make pathetically stupid decisions for them - and making us all look like ass-hats in the process - not to mention unnecessarily costing lives.
We can't do the right thing boys and girls, because the Republicans might call us bad names. And Lord knows, that means more than the precious lives of our children.
A Hillary supporter asked me the other day, "What's wrong with wanting to fight the war more efficiently?"
The problem with that question is...this debacle in Iraq is not a war - it's a crime. We illegally and under false pretenses attacked, invaded, and occupied an innocent sovereign nation in violation of International law and the Geneva Convention against aggressive war. This is not a war - it is a crime!
So you tell me - what's wrong with wanting to commit a crime more efficiently?
Hint: This is not a trick question.
You would think that any moral midget with half a brain would realize that we need to stop committing this crime in Iraq.
And the whole `we have a responsibility to Iraq' argument is based on the premise that we can do anything about the civil war in Iraq in the first damned place - hell! We started it! And our continued occupation is nothing more than a severely aggravating factor. The idea that we can do anything now to save Iraq from its own internal tensions is a red herring that only gives cover to the neocons who never intend to leave Iraq - no matter what the American people think or want.
My message to the Democratic Party? Don't be such suckers - and don't be such cowards.
As a Party we need to provide a unified front on this - and our only moral choice is to get the hell out now, before even more of our troops sacrifice their lives for this God-forsaken crime being committed in our names in Iraq.
Sadly we're not getting the message.
Listen up Democrats! The whole world knows Saddam and Iraq neither attacked nor threatened us.
The whole world knows that Saddam and Iraq had absolutely NOTHING to do with the attacks of 9/11.
The whole world knows that there were no WMDs in Iraq, and that it was all a not-so-elaborate ruse cooked up to fool us all into supporting one of the greatest crimes in all history. Why would anyone want to perpetuate, continue, or prolong such a complete and total clusterfuck?
The only obvious answer is that it would just be so terrible to admit our error, and what's worse, we can't bear the fearful prospect of having to suffer the entirely imaginary slings and arrows of a lot of dimwitted Republican hyperbole. IEDs may be scary, but horseshit is truly petrifying!
Helen Thomas, in the earlier referenced article, goes on to say:
"What all of us in this administration have been saying is that leaving Iraq before the mission is complete will send the wrong message to the enemy and will create a more dangerous world," he (Bush) said.
Where have we heard this familiar refrain before?
Of course, this baloney is almost verbatim from President Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam-war era when protesters hit the streets en masse to express their disenchantment with the war. Source
This is what disturbs me most about this whole situation. We already learned this lesson 30 years ago in Vietnam - but apparently rightwing propaganda has killed its memory.
We lost nearly 30,000 American lives, roughly half of the 58,000 plus American lives that were lost in that God-forsaken war, while our senators and congressmen debated the relative merits of a "cut and run" solution, and while the bull-headed and insane Nixon administration (can you guess which Party?) insisted on "staying the course." And the lives lost to the Laotians, Cambodians, and Vietnamese during that same period were counted in millions.
It is a pity beyond measure that we have learned so little from our own history. We are repeating our worst mistakes, much to our shame, and much to our great loss. Once again politicians are arguing back and forth about whether or not we can just up and get the fuck out, while a deranged administration defiantly vows to "stay the course." In the mean time, people are dying. PEOPLE ARE DYING!
Toward the end of the war in Vietnam John Kerry famously said, "How do you ask someone to be the last person to die for a mistake?"
We face that same question today. Arguing instead of withdrawing amounts to fiddling while Rome burns. Those who support continuing this war for another minute have blood on their hands. Our `leaders' who don't support immediate withdrawal are wrong - dead wrong. Only it's other peoples' children who are doing the dying.
How long are we going to tolerate the same stupid argument that cost us 30,000 American lives in Vietnam? How many Americans must die to soothe our sense of responsibility? Where was our sense of responsibility when we illegally invaded a sovereign nation in the first damned place?
So please tell me O' great Democratic leadership, which label strikes greater fear in your hearts, `cut and run', `appeasers', or `flip-flopper'?
I think such cowardice is pathetic.
Many Democrats will criticize me for saying such things so close to an important national election. While I understand their point, I can't help but believe that if more of us were saying things like this maybe we'd get some leadership out of our `leaders'.
So forgive me for speaking the truth - but I believe the truth shall make us free.