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A New Direction to Disaster

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They continue to try to implement this course (bringing the troops home from Iraq), which would lead to chaos in the region, the creation of a possible terror state with the third largest oil reserves in the world, and a major propaganda victory for Osama bin Laden as well as for Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.
Karl Rove, WSJ (11/09/07)


Karl Rove (disgraceful and dishonorable Brain for George Bush) writes the above quote in what was once a respected journal, but is now owned by Hillary supporter and master Reich-wing propagandist, Rupert Murdoch.

In Karl’s diatribe against the failed 110th Congress he makes all kinds of misleading and scurrilous claims about Congress. I NEVER thought I would agree with the Master of Sleaze about anything, but taking no joy in my agreement or conclusions, I do agree that the 110th is pretty pitiful, but for obvious different reasons.

In the above claim he wrongly states that Congress is working to bring the troops home. However, if Congress does actually do the morally correct thing by not giving Karl’s (well, officially, at least) former “Eliza Doolittle”, George Bush, any more money to fund the war and our troops do come home, that would not be the catalyst for chaos: sending our military to Iraq in the first place based on lies and the full-court press of the White House Iraq Group (Karl was a member) which sold their sham war to a frightened and gullible American public as if they were selling laundry detergent is what has caused the chaos.

The election of Hamas in Palestine and the hard-liner president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can be directly linked to the situation in Iraq that rapidly became a regional nightmare and catastrophe. Yesterday, I read in USA Today that Papa George said that we should not all be so hard on his baby boy and we wouldn’t be so mean to his boy if we would all remember how “brutal” Saddam was. Saddam was brutal, but Baby George, with over a million innocent Iraqis dead, has proven that he is even a more brutal despot than Saddam and our misadventure in the Middle East has created security and power vacuums that is also a direct result of the irresponsible and bloody invasion and failed and oppressive occupation.

Our meddling in a country that had nothing to do with 9/11; no WMD, and no way to threaten the US and killing all those Arabs is what created a propaganda victory and al-Qaeda recruiting bonanza for Osama bin Laden. In the meanwhile according to National Intelligence Estimates, incidences of terrorism have risen significantly since the March, 2003 invasion.

We are currently in a deja-vu like situation where our nations’ violent and vindictive Commander in Chief has asked Congress for billions more dollars to keep the occupations of the Middle East floating for a few more months. Nancy Pelosi is also currently demonstrating her utter lack of Constitutionally mandated powers by saying that Congress will give George only 50 billion more to fund the occupation until March at which times the troops should start to be “redeployed” and all home by the end of 2008.

There are at least three errors with the Congressional “New Direction in Iraq.” First of all the timelines are again “non-binding” and not worth the breath it takes to talk about them, or the ink and paper that it takes to write them (or the headache one gets to think about them). With 2007 being the deadliest year for our US troops and the people of Iraq (did anyone not see---except Bush and Congress that a “surge” which Karl says is working in his laughable op-ed---would not increase the bloodshed?) and the violence predictably picking up after the holy month of Ramadan, by the end of 2008, we should tragically witness the deaths of hundreds of more US troops and thousands of more Iraqis, with even more fleeing their homes to take an inhumane refugee status.

The second thing wrong with a short-term handover is that any amount of money for a war that is wrong, is also wrong. Using the drug addiction illustration again, if one of my children asked me for money to buy crack, but I told them abusing crack is wrong, but “I will give you more money to abuse crack: but only until March! By March, you must have your crack addiction under control because I won’t give you one more penny to abuse crack!” My child would take the money with relief to continue his/her habit knowing that by March (from my past performance of always- buckling under to his/her pressure) I would give him/her more money, anyway. Then between now and March, I could not once tell my child that abusing crack is “harmful/illegal” because I have given my “implied consent” by funding his/her habit. Congress is reaffirming the implied consent theory of war continually by feeding George’s habit for chaos and killing.

The third reason the offer of partial blood money to George is a mistake is that the Constitution divides powers between the branches. Congress (read—Democratic Leadership) has forgotten that the institution is a co-equal branch with the Executive and Judicial. I studied the Constitution in Civic class for my entire eighth grade year and it has only been amended twice since then, once granting suffrage to 18 year olds in 1971 after they had been dying for years in Vietnam (27th Amendment) Incidentally, with the Every Child Left Behind Act, our children, today, learn very little, if anything about civics, history, or critical thinking---that’s education in a fascist state, my friend. Anyhow, in eighth grade I learned that Congress has the power and duty to declare war and pay for war and the Executive has the duty to wage the war. In Congress’ New Direction, the bill has elements that “redefine” the mission in Iraq. I agree that the mission needs to be radically redefined to no mission at all. However, the president, who is clearly irresponsible, to say the very least, is well within his Constitutional right to veto any bill like this and within his Constitutional powers to wage the war as he sees fit. Have I said lately, that he isn’t fit, at all?

The only power that Congress has to end this war (and effectively and affectively redefining the mission), to the chagrin of Karl who is clearly out of step with reality and the country, is to not give George Bush one more penny of China’s money, let alone 50 billion more of Chinese dollars.

In Karl’s WSJ puffery, he also scolds the Senate for delaying the confirmation of Mukasey for Attorney General and applauds the good Democrats who voted for him, while many Democrats and Independents, like myself, wanted the Democrats to filibuster the nomination, but 19 Democrats support torture and we should withdraw our support from them as people who are not barbarians but humanitarians.

Ms. Nancy “Constitution off the Table” Pelosi can also prevent an invasion on Iran by withholding all funding and beginning some serious impeachment work against a run-amok Executive and restore some kind of peace and order to our planet, but she won’t, because no matter how Karl tries to paint the 100th Congress in a bad light, the 109th, 108th, 107th… Congress all sucked by any standards of decency.

Viewing the charade the other day when Rep Kucinich introduced an impeachment resolution against Dick Cheney, my opinion that it is all a game with the letter behind the majority’s names just changing every so often. The entire Congress (except for a courageous and honorable handful) is playing political ping-pong with our soldiers and our future.

Congress and George dance the “Out of Step, Polka” together (with Karl calling the many of the moves) and there is very little we the people can do to join the dance, or redefine the steps into ones that make sense to an American population that truly wants a “New Direction” when Congressional leadership only pays lip service to true change and George is determined to stay a crazy course and drag us down this wrong-headed path with him.

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Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan, who was KIA in Iraq on 04/04/04. She is a co-founder and President of Gold Star Families for Peace and the author of two books: Not One More Mother's Child and Dear President Bush.
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