As news reports of the death of nine more U.S. troops hit the airwaves, and a political war-funding bill is advancing from the Democratic Congress to the President, one has to wonder where we go from here.
The White House is slowly, but surely, moving the date for an evaluation of ‘the surge’ later into the fall so to have as much leverage as they can over the course of events. Congressional politicians seem hamstrung between the grassroots anger over the war, and the silly notion that to get tough over funding the war is somehow a slap in the face of the troops. I am sure the troops would love a cut in funding the war so they could get back to the states and out of the Iraq civil war.
But it is the GOP Congressional Republicans, and their followers around the nation, that have long mystified me. In their hearts they know this war is dangerous for the long-term foreign policy goals of the United States. They know the war was the result of flawed Intel, and even lies told by high officials to further the neo-conservative plans of the Bush White House. And yet they follow with blind loyalty the desires of President Bush. Why?
The ‘why’ leads me to my final thought.
Had Bill Clinton orchestrated this war would all the current war talk by the GOP be supportive of him? Would all these conservative talk show hosts and crazy bloggers on the right be sending up prayers of support for Bill Clinton as he waged his war? I mean if the war is just as the GOP claims, and their rhetoric is correct that the terrorists are just waiting to leave Iraq to travel to Chicago if we were to pull our troops out, then the GOP would need to support Clinton’s war. Yeah, right! The GOP would storm the White House with anger if this same Iraq War scenario had played out with a Democrat in the White House.
This Republican war is all about politics! The GOP has played fast and reckless with the lives of American soldiers. Today we are closing in on 3,500 dead American soldiers. So why is it so scary for the Democrats to stand up and be bold on behalf of the American voters who cast a ballot to end the war last November? Republicans have always been better at looking past the voters by disregarding them, and following their own self-serving path. American history proves this time and again. Democrats need to be just as bold and follow the wishes of the electorate.
End this war.
Technorati Tags: Congress, Democrats, IraqWar, BillClinton, PresidentBush
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 
Your comments that Republicans have always been good at looking past the voters is just plain ignorance. What you should have said is the Republicans look past democrat voters, which is always a good idea since democrats have a surrender policy in Iraq and amorally bankrupt agenda for America. Thank God republicans are not as week when it comes to taking a stance as the current leadership of the democrat party is.
Iraq would not have been Bill Clinton’s war. If Clinton had been President on 9/11 he would lobbed a couple of missles over to Afghanistan and wound up blowing up some of Bin Laden’s tents and maybe injuring his iron lung carrier.
Maybe 9/11 and subsequently the Iraq war would not have happened if for two events:
1) Clinton had aggressively gone after Bin Laden after the embassy bombings and the bombing of the USS Cole. We’re talking troops, planes, ships, bombs and the kitchen sink.
2) If Jimmy Carter had told the marines to shoot at the Iranian students in 1979 instead of telling them to stand down.
The Islamists would have thought twice after getting bloody noses.