Eight years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan without an official declaration of war, with no plan for victory and without a clear reason for untold billions per year in debt spending, a privileged resolution calling for withdrawal under the U.S War Powers Act finally was taken up by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and defeated after three and a half hours of debate by a margin of 356-65-9.
With polls showing the American people against continuation of the war, we surely need to hear Congress making it's justification for more spending on Obama's announced surge and counter-insurgency. This rare on-the-record discussion of our hunt for Osama bin Laden and it's bloody toll on American troops and our children's economic security should be leading off the 6 o'clock news, but it's not.
Reminiscent of the news blackout of the June 2008 filing of Articles of Impeachment contending 35 Bush administration high crimes and misdemeanors, we have seemingly gotten used to the major press ignoring stories that would have been front page headlines in years past.
This reeks of complicity. The media establishment has itself been accused of not doing it's job for a number of reasons, suppressing stories in exchange for favors such as high-level access, license renewals or industry deregulation, or perhaps even fear of reprisals by tyrannical White House operatives like Karl Rove or Rahm Emanuel.
This lack of coverage distorts the urgency of the issue at a time when public outrage of reckless borrowing has almost reached pitchfork status. "The country is totally bankrupt and we are spending trillions of dollars on these useless wars," said libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who joined four other Republicans in supporting the bill, warning that the U.S. is going broke spinning it's wheels in the Afghan badlands just like the Soviets before their union fell apart.
Kucinich told Amy Goodman this was ultimately a plan to make detached, insulated Congressional Reps aware of the drastic waste of money, life and limb this war represents. But without news coverage, the effort would have again been marginalized.
Then, along came Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-Rhode Island) whose impassioned, almost spastic speech shamed the "despicable" national press for disregarding the vote in favor of non-stop coverage of disgraced Rep. Eric Massa. Kennedy's display would have made his father Ted proud, but ironically, was covered in the press only as a hissyfit that barely mentioned the war debate.
As U.S. elections near, we should always remember that the network news only wants our advertising dollars and could give a flying flick about our children's debt, death and corruption in Afghanistan or presenting us with important, useful news and information.
Remember too, that Dennis Kucinich as the only Democratic candidate who voted against the Iraq war and supports a single payer health solution, was shut out of early presidential debates by "corporate media" ABC who he said wants "to rig the presidential election."
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