Much has been made lately of the parliamentary wrangling in the Senate (many would say that all they do is wrangle) over whether the Repubscan introduce and debate a resolution on cutting off funding for our military activities in Iraq as a pari pas sou for a vote on the non-binding censure of Bush’s surge plan. Very clever, what.
The repubs strategy is designed to put the demos in the box of being seen as “not supporting our troops” by voting to limit funding or being seen as giving tacit approval for Bush to proceed with more of the same on steroids. Now, the demos are not entirely dumb. They understand a trap when they see one and have, therefore, chosen to hoist themselves on their own petard by not allowing the debate, the cost of which is a no vote on the censure resolution in the Senate. Okay, you got all that. The demos and repubs spend so much time trying to get the better of one another that the real business of the Republic is substantially under served. This situation calls to mind the slogan for the political party that I threaten to form…it is the Anybody but an Incumbent Party and it’s watchword is, “throw the bastards out whoever they are”. More on this later, much later.
I was idling away some time watching the talking heads on the Sunday shows hearing the same old to and fro. “you demos have a hidden agenda to cut off the funding for our troops”, and “you repubs just want more of the Bush directed same.” I wanted to stand up an yell, “it’s the mission, stupid”. Passing the demos anti-surge resolution is as futile and as useful as the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke. The sentiment is right, but the action is useless. Fighting over whether to debate a funding resolution is equally futile and more than a little debilitating to the whole process.
What cries out for an honest and fulsome debate, in the House, the Senate, and, indeed, throughout the land is the mission of our country and our troops in Iraq. History would suggest that mediating a secular civil war probably isn’t possible, and is proving costly in terms of young American lives. Trying to “stand up” a government of the ungovernable is proving to be expensive and a fools errand or worse. Creating an “Iraqi democracy” as a platform for democratic reform in the middle east is palpably the worst foreign policy mistake since the domino theory led us into Viet Nam.
I dunno the answer for a retooled mission for the US in a place that we shouldn’t be in the first place, but I know that it’s not doing more of what we’ve been doing for the last four years. On the one hand, I say, bring ‘em all home now. Whatever the objective, it’s not worth another single American life. I certainly can’t think of anyone I’d be willing to sacrifice to road side bombs or snipers. On the other hand……well, there is really no other hand, but perhaps our interest could be served by training an Iraqi military force and police, and maybe there’s some stuff we could teach them about the rule of law. Certainly we owe them some reconstruction financing (but not while the bullets are still flying).
But let’s get off the debating the funding crap. It’s not only a red herring, it’s a red herring that stinks of politics. Let’s get on with the real debate. My fear is that the demos don’t have the will or the power to redefine the mission and the repubse too stubbornly intractable to change from what they see as a manifest destiny. That leaves just us, you and me bubba, to come up with a solution.
