The
ABC's of Iraq and The Democrats
by
Simond Griote
The American people hired Democrats last November to ensure that we end this war; so let me be clear, we know that if we don’t keep our promise, we may find ourselves the minority again. Howard Dean, Chairman of Democratic Party
The above statement is sound advice for the Democrats, whether those weaklings will accept that advice or not remains to be seen. The American people, at least this one, have become frustrated with electing officials for one purpose and having them go into office and suddenly have a case of amnesia so that they forget what the people sent them to do and wind up doing whatever they want to do and then turn around and tell the people that they have done what they promised or that what they promised was not feasible.
The Republicans and the Democrats have parsed out what they have done in responding to the promises they have made to the people too long and expect the American people to be deceived and accept their failures to act in accord with their promises more times than is reasonable to accept. There are certain fundamentals that one cannot avoid: You can deceive, lie, abuse, fail to follow through for just so long, and even a slow-witted person will begin to see the truth and respond adversely to your interests.
This truth Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democrats, has seen and articulated clearly in the weekly Democratic radio broadcast. The question is, will the Democrats take heed or think that the people will ignore their malfeasance, even as they (both Republicans and Democrats) have ignored the will of the people. Are the Democrats so blind as to think that the Republicans were just going to acquiesce to them and cease their prosecution of this illegal war because the Democrats have arrived in DC?
There are certain ABC's Democrats need to familiarize themselves with: The first is Howard Dean's statement above; if Democrats, who were placed in office specifically because the American people wanted this disastrous war to stop and US troops out of Iraq, do not get about doing that, they will be out of office ASAP!
Furthermore, this election of the Democrats into office for a single purpose and their failure to fulfill that single purpose may actually show the flawed nature of US Representative Democracy as a viable form of government--the citizenry cannot get elected officials to function as the people want them to.
The second concept Democrats need to familiarize themselves with is the US Constitution and US history: the power of the purse (money for this war) is the sole prerogative of Congress. Wars cannot be fought without money--even George Bush knows that! The power to end this war is within the power of Congress, and there the Democrats have an overwhelming majority of votes to do whatever they want within their power. History instructs that Richard M. Nixon's Iraq (Vietnam) was stopped when the money was stopped, not when a bull-headed president decided to stop it. After some 50,000 US soldiers were needlessly killed Congress finally cut the funding. Need this Congress allow Bush his 50,000 dead soldiers? This Congress has already allowed him 640,000 dead Iraqis, (Lancet Medical Journal) as his White House warriors have disgracefully said concerning the Iraqi dead, "They don't count [as people]."
Bush is too pumped up with power to stop this war on his own. This is the greatest power surge he has ever had, exercising god-like powers over other people's lives and no one of his near or far relations is being inconvenienced, burdened, or threatened by this distant war. And, no doubt, he feels like a truly brave warrior.
The third concept Democrats need to realize is that Bush loves this war; he is committed to it, as his White House warriors have rationalized it, it makes sense to him. He thinks (?) he is prosecuting this war for the good of the nation; that is the baptism that he has been baptized with, and it is now his religion; he is not about to be wedded to another religion.
The fourth concept Democrats must understand is that they should give up the idea that Bush is going to see the light--the man is not one for clarity of thought. This darkness Bush is enveloped by is his light, and there is no other light that he can or will see based on sound reasoning.
If this concept ever registers in Democratic minds, they will need to exercise the congressional power that is theirs and stop this war. It was not enough to hear their rhetoric about bringing this war to an end, they must do it. To have the power to do an act and not do it when you have been sent to Congress to do just that is unforgivable.
Americans have heard the lies and experienced political deceptions before; this administration is the most blatant example of that. Americans want their representatives to go where they are sent and do what they are sent there to do.
The fifth concept is this; to rationalize and excuse themselves from doing what Americans sent Democrats to Congress to do will mean that Democrats, like their Republican counterparts, have helped destroy the confidence of this people in this representative form of government and helped assist in showing this government to be a form highly touted but unworkable to effectuate the will of this people in this age.