Also read:
Democrat’s Victory Means More Iraqi Deaths: End
the War Now — Impeach! Impeach! Impeach! by Sunsara Taylor
November 7, 2006: Millions
of people across the country disgusted and fed up with the continuing bloody
war in Iraq
voted the Republican majority out of Congress in hopes that the Democrats would
end the war.
January 10, 2007: Bush
announces an ESCALATION of the Iraq
war, with 21,500 more troops being sent overwhelmingly to Baghdad,
and threatens Iran.
March 23, 2007: Democrats in
the House vote to continue funding the war, handing Bush $100 billion.
March 29, 2007: Democrats in the Senate vote to continue funding the war, handing Bush $100 billion.
Within the funding bill is a
withdrawal timetable resolution to pull most troops out of Iraq by September 1st, 2008, and
insists that the benchmarks for progress in Iraq be made requirements. The Democratic Party leadership touts this bill
as a new direction in Iraq.
Don’t believe the hype.
First of all, it’s
instructive to look at how and why this bill was put up for a vote in the first
place. The Democratic Party leadership
worked overtime to “forge a consensus” among its members in Congress, which
amounted to getting everyone in line behind a program that allows the war to be
continued. Congresswoman Barbara Lee had
offered an amendment that would have only provided funding for troop withdrawal
instead of continuing the war, which received the support of several Democrats
in Congress, but the Democratic Party leadership refused to allow this to be
put up for a vote. Like impeachment,
ending the war now is “not on the table”.
Moreover, with the bodies
piling up in the streets of Baghdad daily (a study published in The Lancet last fall found that 655,000
Iraqis had been killed since the start of the war), it is completely
unconscionable to pass a bill allowing the war to continue with funding and
Congressional approval for at least another year, and then have the audacity to
claim this is progress towards ending the war.
(Nancy Pelosi called the bill “a giant step to end the war and
responsibly redeploy our troops out of Iraq”.)
To the extent that the
Democratic Party leadership opposes Bush’s war, it is from the standpoint of
defending and extending empire. They are
deeply concerned about the ongoing debacle in Iraq
and how it might hurt “American interests” (translation: empire), but not about
the war crimes being committed by the US military. And while mouthing supposed opposition to the Iraq war, they call for strengthening the war on
Afghanistan
in the name of the “war on terrorism”. (See
Escalation
of War on Afghanistan: What Will be the Consequences for the People? and The
“Good War” in Afghanistan on worldcantwait.org for more on why
the war on Afghanistan
is unjust.) And in the bill passed
Friday, language requiring Bush to get Congressional approval before attacking Iran was taken
out at the insistence of Democratic Party leadership (see Congressional
Democrats Strip Language Limiting Attack Against Iran From Bill).
If all that isn’t enough for
you, then keep in mind there is no enforcement mechanism for troop withdrawal
by September 1st, 2008 in this bill, and Bush has threatened to veto
the legislation anyway.
This war must be stopped. War on Iran must be prevented. And Bush must be impeached.
But this isn’t going to come
from the Democrats in Congress. It’s going
to have to come from political upheaval from below, from the millions of people
who hate this war getting out in the streets and demanding this war end now.
Some must reads on
worldcantwait.org:
Democrat’s Victory Means More Iraqi Deaths: End
the War Now — Impeach! Impeach! Impeach!” by Sunsara TaylorMoveOn.org
Versus Its Members by David SwansonSupport
the Troops? Or End the War Now?