June 15, 2006 at 11:05:52

The Republican War Party

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By Ron Fullwood (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)

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"Health insurance costs have gone up 70 percent under the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress -- six million more Americans do not have coverage." Pelosi said. "The cost of gasoline has nearly doubled in the five years of the Bush Administration -- up to $3 a gallon. Tuition for higher education has increased enormously, yet the Bush Administration has taken us in the wrong direction, cutting $12 billion in assistance for higher education. And the purchasing power of middle-income families' wages has been greatly reduced under the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress."

Senate Democratic Leader Reid echoed the House Leader's concerns over the effect of the republican War Party's military priority and the effect on the nation's debt: "President Bush has presided over the largest explosion of debt in our nation's history." he said. When President Bush took office, the total national debt was $5.6 trillion. The federal debt has increased 54 percent since President Bush took office, from approximately $5.6 trillion at the end of 2000 to an estimated $8.6 trillion at the end of 2006. By 2011, the President's budget would increase the public debt to $11.8 trillion," Reid argued.

Democratic Party Chairman Dean weighed in with his own admonition of the republican War Party: "Instead of engaging in a real debate about the war in Iraq," he says. "Republicans would prefer to engage in partisan attacks for political gain. The troops deserve more than a partisan political production"

Yet, this debate today is more than just a production for the republican War Party. The debate over a new Iraq resolution is the debut of their new persona. The Iraq War Party intends to legislatively redefine the Iraq war as the center of the battle of the Bush regime's 'war on terror'. Iraq was first conceived as their breeding ground for an escalation of violent opposition to America and our interests as Bush invited attacks on our soldiers with his battle cry of "bring them on", and announced his intention to have our troops "fight them there ".

The new Iraq resolution refuses a date certain for the withdrawal of our troops and leaves our nation "committed to the completion of the mission" in Iraq. But the 'mission' in Iraq is going to be defined today by the republican War Party as a front in the broader 'war on terror.' "Are we going to confront the threat of terrorism and defeat it, or will we relent and retreat in the hopes that it just goes away?" Boehner said in a statement.

Yet, Bush yesterday rejected the notion that terrorism could be eliminated in Iraq. The best Bush said we could hope for was an 'environment' in which the new Iraqi government could function. That's what Bush and the republican War Party intend to produce for the mortgaging of ours, and our children's future sacrifices. The defense of the new Iraqi government.

The fate of our nation's soldiers has been left to the whim of the Iraqis. As Bush stated in his press conference yesterday, the generals in Iraq will make the recommendations, in consultation with the Iraqi government. Today Iraq's minister of national security said the issue of troop withdrawal will be up to the Iraqi parliament.

With no plan to withdraw from Iraq, and an intention to continue to further yoke the product of our nation's citizens work and sacrifice to their failed military adventure there, the republican Iraq War Party is establishing something quite extraordinary in the history of the two-party domination of our nation's political system. The Iraq War Party seeks to commit us to a perpetual defense of their coddled junta, firmly establishing America as a guarantor of the Maliki regime, effective with the perpetual authorization of our military occupation there.

That's what the new Iraq resolution is all about: Licence for perpetual war, and codifying of the New Imperialism that Bush has been allowed to further and deepen as a result of an ineffective opposition in Congress. The Democratic members of the House weren't allowed to offer any legislative alternative to the War Party's imprimatur of their open embrace of their warmonger persona. They don't need one.

In rejecting this sham document, and in continuing to press the republican majority to return to a focus on America and American needs and concerns, the Democratic Party will prevail as the only party remaining that intends to represent them. The republican Iraq War Party should not be allowed to pull the focus and resources away from our country for their war games. The War Party should not be allowed to prevail.

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Ron Fullwood, is an activist from Columbia, Md. and the author of the book 'Power of Mischief' : Military Industry Executives are Making Bush Policy and the Country is Paying the Price

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
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