That the majority in the US Congress and Senate support our troops is not in question. They voted for a bill to send an additional $124.2 B over to Iraq to provided the materials and supplies that our troops will be needing for the next few months.
And George Bush vetoed that bill today.
Who supports our troops? The majority in congress or the president?
Even my congressman, Nick Lampson (D - Stafford) here in Texas CD 22 voted for the funding bill. He was a little leery of it, as was stated in The Chron awhile back, because it offers a withdrawal schedule. But Nick must know that a withdrawal schedule tied to a spending bill will be the only way Bush will let our troops come home and safe, away from a full blown civil war.
But it must be about how it looks.
How it looks is this. Four years ago today George Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, garbed in a military flight suit – looking ridiculous by the way – and declared victory in Iraq. “Mission Accomplished” was written on that banner that everyone remembers.
So when you win a war, don’t you get to bring your soldiers home? At the most, leave a peacekeeping force at the Iraqi borders?
What are we still doing there?
Here’s how it looks. We’re still in Iraq because of a nonexistent exit plan. No one ever planned to leave. There’s too much money to be made there. They’ve got lots of oil, and they have lots of things that need building. Companies like Halliburton and Bechtel are making money hand over fist over there. And what about the arms manufacturers, helicopter manufacturers, MRE manufacturers, prosthetics manufacturers casket manufacturers. All making lucre.
It was never about politics, doing the right thing and keeping the terrorists there instead of fighting them over here. It never has been those things with this administration or the previous Republican majority in the House and Senate.
It’s all been about money. What we have is an unrepentant kleptocracy still running the show, digging in their heels, claiming that setting a schedule will encourage our enemies, while taking more and more money from the public till.
If we allow this to continue, truly taking our eyes off the ball – the ball being getting our troops out of that meat grinder – we do a disservice to our country and our military. And we will continue to do this if we try to appease the president with a compromise that he also won’t sign. The Republican minority and Bush and Cheney, clearly still have their eyes on the ball – the ball being all about the money.
Take away the money and you take away their ball.
The only way to extract our troops from Iraq is to defund the war. Ultimately it was how we got out of Vietnam. Nick Lampson will probably not go for this, but in the end, I have to ask him. What’s more important, how it looks, or another 3300 KIAs?
Defund the war and you take away the stuff that Bush and his cronies are fighting the war for.
To get our money.
And George Bush vetoed that bill today.
Who supports our troops? The majority in congress or the president?
Even my congressman, Nick Lampson (D - Stafford) here in Texas CD 22 voted for the funding bill. He was a little leery of it, as was stated in The Chron awhile back, because it offers a withdrawal schedule. But Nick must know that a withdrawal schedule tied to a spending bill will be the only way Bush will let our troops come home and safe, away from a full blown civil war.
But it must be about how it looks.
How it looks is this. Four years ago today George Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, garbed in a military flight suit – looking ridiculous by the way – and declared victory in Iraq. “Mission Accomplished” was written on that banner that everyone remembers.So when you win a war, don’t you get to bring your soldiers home? At the most, leave a peacekeeping force at the Iraqi borders?
What are we still doing there?
Here’s how it looks. We’re still in Iraq because of a nonexistent exit plan. No one ever planned to leave. There’s too much money to be made there. They’ve got lots of oil, and they have lots of things that need building. Companies like Halliburton and Bechtel are making money hand over fist over there. And what about the arms manufacturers, helicopter manufacturers, MRE manufacturers, prosthetics manufacturers casket manufacturers. All making lucre.
It was never about politics, doing the right thing and keeping the terrorists there instead of fighting them over here. It never has been those things with this administration or the previous Republican majority in the House and Senate.
It’s all been about money. What we have is an unrepentant kleptocracy still running the show, digging in their heels, claiming that setting a schedule will encourage our enemies, while taking more and more money from the public till.
If we allow this to continue, truly taking our eyes off the ball – the ball being getting our troops out of that meat grinder – we do a disservice to our country and our military. And we will continue to do this if we try to appease the president with a compromise that he also won’t sign. The Republican minority and Bush and Cheney, clearly still have their eyes on the ball – the ball being all about the money.
Take away the money and you take away their ball.
The only way to extract our troops from Iraq is to defund the war. Ultimately it was how we got out of Vietnam. Nick Lampson will probably not go for this, but in the end, I have to ask him. What’s more important, how it looks, or another 3300 KIAs?
Defund the war and you take away the stuff that Bush and his cronies are fighting the war for.
To get our money.
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