No Iraq War

On Veteran's Day, I think of the waste of young life that has happened thanks to George W Bush and his handlers. I reflect also on the violence and massive loss of life and home to the people living in Iraq.

The post title today represents the home-made sticker I've had on my truck's rear window since before "Mr I'm the Decider" marched us all off to war. While a majority of Americans went along with that move, some of us protested from the beginning, including US Reps Sherrod Brown and Dennis Kucinich among the few and the brave.

Four years later, having suffered too many losses of young men and women, and many more injured in horrific ways, and with daily news of no progress amid mounting chaos, the majority stood up and said NO to staying the course. Simplistic is all we ever got from this mistake of a president and his manipulators. With Democratic control of house and senate, can we get away from the either/or of Stay the Course
vs. Cut and Run?

How about -- Clean Up the Mess as a new phrase to deal with our simple-minded president? Iraq is in terrible condition. US presence makes it worse. Who among the planet's citizens can make a difference in Iraq? We need negotiators in there with promises of real help to build up the infrastructure -- that must be agreed upon by the Sunnis, the Shiites and the Kurds. This isn't going to be easy and in the end, the three groups might decide to blow each other up until nothing's left -- the old reach-rock-bottom syndrome taken to the extreme.

How will the Dems be able to steer our country in this direction of negotiation rather than that of military occupation? The generals are re-examining their strategies now that Rumsfeld is going out to pasture. In an article in today's Washington Post, Marine Gen. Peter Pace (chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) says

"Winning, to me, is simply having each of the nations that we're trying to help have a secure environment inside of which their government and people can function."

The article point out that this is a departure from the current administration's definition of "winning" which is building a democracy in Iraq. You can bomb a civilization to bits, but you can't make it drink from the democracy well if it doesn't want to.

Now Bush dregs up another of his dad's old cronies with ties to the Iran-Contra scandal, Robert Gates. It is indicative of Bush Jr's inability to look forward to find new people with intelligence and creative minds who might provide a way out of the Bush Mess we are in now.

I've read some comments here and there across the internet implying that one way the Dems can apply brakes to the war machine is to withhold funding for the war effort. I can't remember where I found the remarks, so I did a Google search and found most references were on right wing publications (here) and here leading up to the election.

If that is the tactic conservatives fear the most, then the Dems might well go for it. I've also been reading that congressional approval of warrantless wiretapping is dead in the water -- hooray! The brakes are being applied. Let us hope we are not too late to end the war and focus on solving problems not creating more.