Democrats and the Iraq War
As this article published yesterday in the San Francisco Chronicle points out, the Democrats, even those ostensibly "antiwar", are all talk and no action with respect to the Iraq War. The fact is that the Democrats, if they were serious about ending the war in Iraq, will now have a simple tool at their disposal as the majority party in Congress, a tool that was used late in the Vietnam War. They could simply refuse to fund the war.
But that isn't in the cards. For example congressman George Miller, a senior Democrat and strong ally of Nancy Pelosi, claims to be against the war. But rather than calling for an immediate withdrawal, he wants a slower withdrawal that will take six months--which will mean six more months of American soldiers dying in a needless conflict. Tellingly, the article reports that "Miller ruled out cutting off funding for the war." Well, surprise, surprise.
The article points out clearly that without being willing to use the option of cutting off funding, the Democrats' position on the Iraq War is simply one of meaningless posturing and utter impotence:
But that isn't in the cards. For example congressman George Miller, a senior Democrat and strong ally of Nancy Pelosi, claims to be against the war. But rather than calling for an immediate withdrawal, he wants a slower withdrawal that will take six months--which will mean six more months of American soldiers dying in a needless conflict. Tellingly, the article reports that "Miller ruled out cutting off funding for the war." Well, surprise, surprise.
The article points out clearly that without being willing to use the option of cutting off funding, the Democrats' position on the Iraq War is simply one of meaningless posturing and utter impotence:
Bush can maintain course in Iraq if he insists on it, some believe.Herein lies the problem. As usual, the Democrats who are portrayed in the media as "antiwar" are all about putting up a show, while in reality they are completely divorced from the priorities and values of the bona fide antiwar movement in this country.
"The only way for Democrats to undo that preference is to de-fund it, and they've said over and over again that they're not willing to do that," said Stephen Biddle, a senior defense policy fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former chair of military studies at the U.S. Army War College. "So what are they going to do? Kill him by op-ed column?"
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