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The Honorable Way Forward Resolution

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hile debating a non-binding resolution the recent rash of rhetoric in the House of Representatives was intended as a rebuke to President Bush's plan to increase the number of troops as part of "the way forward" in resolving the crisis in Iraq.

"Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), that:

1. Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States Armed Forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honourably in Iraq; and

2. Congress disapproves of the decision of President George W Bush announced on 10 January 10 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq. "

The war party framed the debate in terms of "supporting the troops" and charging all who opposed them with "giving aid to the enemy" by claiming that if the resolution passed it would not only embolden our enemy but it would adversely affect the morale of our troops except for those casualties of war recently covered by the news and currently housed in Bldg 18 at Walter Reed Hospital recovering in rat infested rooms from brain injuries and lost limbs because their morale was already adversely affected by slowly realizing the body they sacrificed was for the enemies of freedom here at home who wage a war on dissent.

The opposition party accepted this unabashed jingoism and failed once again to challenge the shameless hypocrisy of the Republican Party that claims to "support the troops" but votes to cut VA funding, ignores the troops when they come home in a body bag and neglects them when they come back broken in mind and/or missing body parts.

In essence the opposition party still "supports the troops" and by extension the mission of the war itself but disapproves of the way the Commander-in-Chief is waging it while the war party "supports the troops" and approves of the way the Commander-in-Chief is waging it. While both major political parties "support the troops" one in word, the other in deed unfortunately both major political parties have accepted the legal basis for the war as contained in H.J. R-114.

The war party says the reasons for our involvement will be debated for years but the fact is we are here now and out of partisan loyalty the present demands we follow "the way forward" as defined by this administration at the expense of the Republic.

The opposition party can't agree on how to resolve the situation in Iraq no doubt influenced by their previous inability to oppose H.J. R114 as a party nor can they remember that Phase II of the Senate's Report on Iraq WMD Intelligence is long overdue. This was the report which was to investigate how Iraq WMD intelligence was used by senior policymakers in the Bush Administration to manipulate the intelligence for war.

The opposition party sold out its constituency once again and reinforced those who doubted any difference existed between the war party and the acquiescing opposition party by permitting the release date to be made after the 04 election. And today the war party now claims there is no point to rehashing the causes.

The resolution which has yet to be introduced is the one that supports the troops as well as the one that defines our mission. It is the resolution that supersedes HJR-114 because HJR-114 was based on a series of fabrications and lies. It is a resolution to an honorable way forward and an honorable exit from Iraq. It is the following resolution:

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), that:

We support all the troops by authorizing the President to provide and insure the health care that the wealthy among us has access to becomes available for all those veterans who suffered physical and/or mental conditions requiring medical treatment when they were willing to make the supreme sacrifice.

We support all the troops by authorizing the President take whatever means necessary to insure that no veterans are hungry or homeless.

We support all the troops by authorizing the President to insure that immediate family war time survivors are eligible for at least a two year college education.

We support the troops who served in uniform as a result of HJR-114 and we support the troops who refused to follow an unlawful order.

We authorize the President of the United States to level financial fines against the companies who profited from HJR-114 especially the oil companies and to specifically ear mark that money for financing research toward more renewable sources of energy and remove our dependency on oil.

We authorize the President of the United States to end this tragedy in Iraq by speaking before the United Nations, offering to remove all U.S. and coalition troops, offering to pay for all funding of an international peace keeping force until Iraq becomes a stable sovereign nation of its choosing which replaces us when we leave, and offering to pay for all war related in reparations.

"The truth is incontrovertible; malice may attack it, ignorance my deride it, but in the end, there it is."--Winston Churchill
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