Sure, we're being conned. I can feel the frustration from many anti-war Democratic voters who feel that their legislators should be doing more to end the Iraq war. As much as I hate this war and know that it's been a con job from day one, I believe that the Reid-Pelosi tactic is the proper one. Steve Benen at TPM has a scathing assessment of the current events in Iraq. As he says:
The GAO prepared a "strikingly negative" assessment of conditions on the ground, with no political progress (the intended point of the "surge") and little evidence of reduced violence. Of the 18 Iraqi benchmarks, Bush's policy has come up short on 15. An independent federal commission believes Iraq's 26,000-member national police force is beyond repair and might need to be disbanded altogether. A working draft of a secret document prepared by the U.S. embassy in Baghdad shows that the Maliki government is rotten to the core. Iraqi civilian deaths are getting worse, not better. The latest data shows U.S. troop fatalities worse every month this year compared to the same months last year. A smidgeon of evidence pointing to at least marginal political progress late last week turned out to be smoke and mirrors.
Read the links if you want your blood to boil. The administration, full of snarky chickenhawks who seemingly spend more mental energy pranking their colleagues with Saran Wrap than strategizing a war effort, is going to the wall with the Iraq war. The Democrats have only a few choices to make.
While the Democrats have a nominal lead in both Congressional Houses, their majorities are too small to override vetoes.
Any war funding bill with benchmarks will be vetoed by the President, thus giving the impression of the Democrats de-funding the war.
If the war is de-funded, then the President will say, correctly, that his hands are tied and the war is no longer his responsibility.
The last thing Reid and Pelosi want is to buy this war.
Yeah, it sucks. Believe me, nobody is as upset as I am at the mayhem committed with my federal tax dollars. unfortunately, we are destined to watch this play out for at least 15 more months with a slow-motion train wreck of sectarian violence and lies from our leaders about progress. Honestly, there is no way for plebes like us to know what is actually going on in Iraq, but I'm pretty confident that Bush's appraisal is too optimistic, just like it has always been.
The Democrats are on the verge of a real victory in 2008. Chances are, if they don't roll over, that they will hold the White House and have substantive, veto-proof, majorities in both the Senate and the House. To upset the apple cart now with creative war funding bills and demagoguery has the potential of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Change takes time and certainly more time than what our current “right now” culture is accustomed to.
Bush is the President, elected as fairly as the system allows. Reid and Pelosi didn't elect Bush Commander-in-Chief, I guarantee it. If the anti-war lefties want to point fingers, then they should look around their neighborhoods and family gatherings for the real culprits. Democracy can get pretty ugly, especially when the electorate is asleep.
If you want to conduct a thought experiment, then do the “then what” challenge. If the the Democrats de-fund the war, then what? Bush, in all his petulant glory, will certainly continue to mismanage the war and the withdrawal. Diplomacy will not occur where it has not all these years. The Sunnis and Shia will not suddenly become friends. The Iranians will not become brokers for peace. Little George would not suddenly become an arbiter of restraint and reason in the world. NATO, the UN and regional allies like Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Jordan would not be any more willing to sign onto the sinking ship of a withdrawing US.
The Iraq situation under Bush's scorned leadership will certainly devolve faster and further than it is now. We would see bodies floating in the Tigris and Euphrates, Iran laying claim to southern Iraqi oil fields, Sunnis killing Kurds, and vice versa, in the north. Refugee crises could further destabilizing neighboring countries as Iraqis flee genocidal marauders. The Straits of Hormuz could become a war zone thus spiking the price of oil and leading to worldwide economic strife. The potential for a worse situation is certainly out there. And Reid and Pelosi would be the proud owners of the debacle, all the blame and none of the control.
Be patient, grasshoppers. Change takes time. Change always comes. And if you're in Iraq, keep your head down.
1 comment:
Grodge,
I think that this is predicated specifically on two things happening in point 2: (1) that the MSM will indeed spin it as the Dems defunding the troops (history suggests that they will, but who knows?), and (2) that the Dems will do nothing to get their message out, that Bush is defunding the troops and in fact holding them hostage to his petulant ego. You may be right, and if so, then I begrudgingly concur (but reserve the right to have a moment of mental clarity that may yet lead to a more cogent argument against this perspective).
More ab work is the key.
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