The Democrats are probably figuring out that by winning both the House and the Senate, they have about a year and a half to stop this nations downhill slide towards a military and political defeat in the Middle East. The world understands that Bush was responsible for this mess and that the Democrats were elected because of dissatisfaction with "his" war. The problem with this, is that by 2008 if there is no success in Iraq, and if there is no stable government in place and the war over, it will prove the Republicans were right in the belief that the Democrats had no clear cut strategy for fixing the Iraq "problem" and a Republican landslide will result. This is not a fair or correct accusation, but in 2008, the Republicans won't exactly care about what is fair and what is not. The only thing that they will care about, is winning back the House and The Senate, along with The Presidency. Americans have extremely short memories, especially when it comes to politics. I can just about predict that this is exactly what will come to pass.
This is the kind of sticky situation that makes for a right wing "casebook study" on how to shift blame for something that the right wing actually started, onto the shoulders of the idealistic Democrats that believe they can solve this mess by "working together" with the Republicans. The only thing that the Democrats will end up with, is not a bi-partisan solution to this horrid mess, but a loss at the polls after the right wing "proves" to the American people how the Democrats have thwarted President Bush from winning this "war on terrorism". You can take this article, fold it up and put it into an old cigar box, take it out in mid 2008, and see if I'm not 100% correct. This war will be Pelosi and Reid's big problem. We will still be trying to wind down the war, the death toll will be up to about 8,000 or 9,000, and Bagdad will still be a no-man's land beyond the Green Zone, while the American people are wringing their hands, mad as hell because the Democrats didn't deliver on their promise to stop this lousy war.
There is however a solution to this problem if the Democrats have half a brain and a bit of courage. Come to think of it, this is starting to sound a bit like "The Wizard of Oz". The only thing that this script is lacking is a good ending. So far the Democrats have found a heart, now they need some brains and some courage. First the brains; Impeach Bush for starting a "pre-emptive War on contrived data that misrepresented what the intelligence agencies were actually giving the administration. We know from what we have heard from the 9/11 Commission that the administration played up the things that pressed the case for war, and downplayed the information that went against the Bush claim that Hussain had WMD's and ties to Al-Quada. The yellow-cake business that got Valerie Plame outed is one example of how they tried to manipulate information. The speech that Former Secretary of State Powell gave at the UN is so full of lies and misconceptions that in hindsight, you can't help but see that the administration was building a case for war with information that was fuzzy at best, and absolute lies in a realistic light. Lies that cost this nation over 300 Billion dollars, almost 3000 soldiers dead, tens of thousands maimed and crippled, with god knows how many with PTSD from being deployed every other year to a combat zone. Lies that cost this nation the respect of the world community, and led to hundreds of thousand dead Iraqi's, and a nation that has no viable infrastructure. The worst part of this whole can of worms that the Bush administration has opened on this nation, is the fact that Iraq has now become the new training ground for every would be Islamic terrorist on planet Earth.
Now comes the courage part. There is two things that the Democrats must do. The First thing is to Impeach the President and Vice-President for lying to the American people about Hussain's military capability and leading this country into an ill-advised, needless war, based on information that was deliberately slanted to back the administrations claims. The second thing that we must do, is to pull American soldiers out of harms way, regroup, reorganize, resupply and reinforce our fighting force, while we negotiate with Iran, Syria and members of NATO and the UN, to form an international peacekeeping force to stop Iraq from becoming a lawless, stateless entity that will become a breeding ground for terrorists. We can do that if we have the moral "high ground" by impeaching Bush and Cheney. Meanwhile at home we must, however unpalatable as it sounds, reinstate the draft, and mobilize to end this war in Iraq, and also to stop Afghanistan from falling back into the hands of the Taliban.
This is what I believe are our only logical choices. I did not believe that sending troops into Iraq was right. I wrote to my legislators, to the President and screamed about it. I am only an average citizen, of course it did absolutely no good. Now I am on another soapbox screaming again that we can not just "work" with this administration, and go on as we have been and lose soldiers with no end to the fighting in sight. What I proposed is really what I believe are our only options. Impeaching Bush and Cheney will put the blame for this war squarely on the shoulders of the people responsible. There will be no "blaming" of the Democratic House and Senate. It will also serve notice to other future Presidents about using war as a political tool. If we get a peacekeeping force and bolster our military capabilities, we can secure Iraq, gain our respect back in the world community, and deny Iraq and Afghanistan to the terrorists as training grounds. These are harsh realities to face, but nobody said that doing what is right would be easy. The sooner we do these things, the sooner we can get back to being what America should be, a beacon of freedom, and hope in a perilous world.
