"George W. Bush brought death and chaos to Iraq on the basis of lies. Now, as he staggers through the last months of his failed presidency, he is trying one more bit of trickery — forcing the Nuri Al-Maliki government to legitimize a long-term military occupation of Iraq in a treaty, which will make that sovereign country an American colony." -- from an editorial in the "Arab News," June 8, 2008
This quote reveals how a huge majority of Arabs and Muslims feel about the Treaty of Permanent Occupation that the Bush administration is trying to cram down the throats of the Iraqi people. It also fairly accurately describes how most Americans feel, because Bush won't even let our elected representatives of Congress know the full content of what is contained in his proposed "agreement" which is clearly a treaty that would require ratification in both houses.
The non-partisan government watchdog group, DownsizeDC, is sick and tired of Bush's policy of total war, 24/7, FOREVER. They have proposed that our government adopt a "Golden Rule" foreign policy. They want our government to simply "...treat other people as we would want to be treated."
The group believes that our politicians have used wrongs committed by others to "justify wrongs of their own." They want Americans to ask themselves one simple question:
Would we accept what we are asking the Iraqi people to accept?
The proposed treaty requires that Iraq . . .
- Allow the U.S. to build 58 permanent military bases on their soil
- Grant U.S. control of Iraqi airspace up to 30,000 feet
- Establish immunity from prosecution for U.S. troops and contractors
- Permit the U.S. to determine when Iraq is at war with another country (Iran for instance)
- Agree to a two year notice to cancel the treaty
The administrators at DownsizeDC point out that, "President Bush wants to impose his preferred policy on the next president. He also asserts that his 'agreement' with Iraq will be an 'executive accord,' NOT subject to ratification by the Senate."
They contend that the President's policy is not only unconstitutional, it also violates the Golden Rule and is dangerous to Americans.
These treaty proposals, coming in the wake of everything else our government has done -- invasions, renditions, torture, lack of due process -- massively increase the danger of blowback against the American people. We believe it's time to downsize the President's reckless and overreaching foreign policy.
DownsizeDC's plan to accomplish this task is to demand that Congress ask the Iraqi government to hold a "Yes/No public referendum" on the U.S. occupation. As the organization sees it:
It will be hard for either U.S. or Iraqi politicians to argue against letting the Iraqi people have their say. Plus . . .
- If the Iraqis vote for us to stay, then much of the Islamic world will accept that decision, but . . .
- If they ask us to leave, then the moral problem of "we broke it, we own it" will disappear, allowing us to leave with grace.
The group says that George W. Bush should not have the power to tell another country what to do if the people of that country don't want what he has to give. They have set up a page for Americans who believe the United States should have a "Golden Rule" foreign policy to send that message to Congress.
By JC Garrett
