A Sickeningly Immoral Charade

Top down authoritarian rule is what the Republicans offer. The DLC is not encouraging diversity of ideas, or anything different from what the Republicans are offering, when it comes to the Iraq occupation.

They are offering a democratic version of the war, with a makeup job to make it look and smell good. New and improved! Better than the Rethug version! Just look at this baby!

Like dressing up a rusted out old car with nothing more then a cheap paint job and some shiny hubcaps, they are selling the same old deathtrap underneath the glossy shine.

The Democratic leadership thinks they can win by funding the occupation so that it will still be going on next year for them to run against. They cynically want and need the occupation to continue for what they think will be their own political gain.

To do that they have to pay for it. With American lives. And Iraqi lives.

As soon as they do the electorate will blame the occupation on the Democrats.

The Republicans are a top down authoritarian organized machine. Not many will flip to oppose Bush as the DLC hopes they will in the fantasies they are selling to people of building a veto proof majority to someday legislate an end to the occupation. They are laughing at the Democrats fighting amongst and dividing themselves.

The DLC, when they lose next year, will blame their loss on people who advocated defunding and ending the occupation by saying that there was no unity behind continuing to fund death to run against.

Wonderful scenario.

The only way out of it is by the Democratic Leadership defunding the occupation. By doing that they will cut the feet off the Republicans.

It's the only way that makes any sense.

The Bush Veto, the Democrats' Response, and Why Millions Must Break with the Politics of Empire:

Despite protestations by leading Democrats like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (who claims, "make no mistake: Democrats are committed to ending this war"), the bill they sent to Bush and their response to his veto illustrate that their position on the war is a thoroughly imperialist one, making them unwilling and unable to really end the war.

First, the appropriations bill they drafted never called for a complete withdrawal from Iraq--much less the Middle East. It called for a phased withdrawal of most combat forces, but envisioned leaving thousands of soldiers in Iraq indefinitely to fight "terrorists," protect U.S. installations, and train Iraqi forces. And U.S. forces redeployed to other countries in the region would be available to re-invade Iraq and/or be used to attack other countries in the region. It is also very exposing that the Democrats refused to include language in the bill requiring Bush to consult Congress before attacking Iran .

Second, the logic of the bill was to threaten troop withdrawals to force the Iraqi government to meet U.S. "benchmarks" such as passing an oil bill, building their armed forces, disarming militias, and curbing the civil war/sectarian violence dynamic now gripping Iraq. These are the same goals Bush spelled out in his January 10 address to the nation, aimed at creating a stable, pro-U.S. government in Iraq. The Democrats also want to cut U.S. losses, preserve the military, and regroup to defend broader U.S. regional interests.

When Bush vetoed the bill, and the Democrats failed to override it, they immediately began talking about concessions: giving Bush the money he wanted and removing any timetables for troop withdrawals. Simply refusing to fund the war (including by filibustering) wasn't considered.

Theater of Death:

...for our ruling elites, the suffering and death of innocent people, American, Iraqi or of any other nationality, are not of primary importance. In the perverse scheme of their priorities, such matters appear well down on the list. Their major and often sole concern is political power: its acquisition, its maintenance and its expansion. Tactics of only one kind are their concern: the means by which their own power is maintained and enhanced.

It is deeply regrettable, and also inevitable - since the world of political blogs cannot be other than a reflection of the larger culture - that this same indifference to human pain and suffering infects the approach of the great majority of political bloggers. For all their ferocious opposition to the Bush administration and to Republicans generally, [some] liberal and progressive bloggers act as if they are largely indifferent to bringing about a quick end to the incomprehensibly deadly Iraq occupation. They certainly demonstrate no sustained, serious effort to pressure Congressional Democrats into defunding the war - or into acting to oppose an attack on Iran in every way possible. The concerns of these bloggers and the Washington Democrats are perfectly coextensive: they will condemn the Iraq war and act to block an attack on Iran only to the degree such actions will not endanger their perceived political opportunities in 2008.

Original published 05/19/2007 at Edgeing: A Sickeningly Immoral Charade