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Submissive Democrats Enabled Iraq Invasion

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

Fomer Rhose Island Senator Lincoln Chaffee’s political memoir, entitled “Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President” will be released April 1, reports the Providence Journal’s Scott MacKay. The report to which I was led from Brad DeLong’s excellent blog.

Chaffee was defeated for reelection in 2006 by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, largely, it seems, due to dissatisfaction with the Iraqi adventure.

MacKay’s report includes this:

“I find it surprising now, in 2008, how many Democrats are running for president after shirking their constitutional duty to check and balance this president,” writes Chafee. “Being wrong about sending Americans to kill and be killed, maim and be maimed, is not like making a punctuation mistake in a highway bill.

“They argue that the president duped them into war, but getting duped does not exactly recommend their leadership. Helping a rogue president start an unnecessary war should be a career-ending lapse of judgment.”

Chafee was the only Republican senator to vote against prosecuting the war. “The top Democrats were at their weakest when trying to show how tough they were,” writes Chafee. “They were afraid that Republicans would label them soft in the post-September 11 world, and when they acted in political self-interest, they helped the president send thousands of Americans and uncounted innocent Iraqis to their doom.

“Instead of talking tough or meekly raising one’s hand to support the tough talk, it is far more muscular, I think, to find out what is really happening in the world and have a debate about what we really need to accomplish,” writes Chafee. “That is the hard work of governing, but it was swept aside once the fear, the war rhetoric and the political conniving took over.”

Chafee writes of his surprise at “how quickly key Democrats crumbled.” Democratic senators, Chafee writes, “went down to the meetings at the White House and the Pentagon and came back to the chamber ready to salute. With wrinkled brows they gravely intoned that Saddam Hussein must be stopped. Stopped from what? They had no conviction or evidence of their own. They were just parroting the administration’s nonsense. They knew it could go terribly wrong; they also knew it could go terribly right. Which did they fear more?”

I think Chaffee is absolutely right when he observes that “They were afraid that Republicans would label them soft in the post-September 11 world,…”

This is the Democratic Leadership Council, DLC, orthodoxy, which stems from the so called “Reagan Revolution”, when republicans branded democrats as weak on defense and democrats immediately rolled over and wet themselves in submission to Reagan and crew, while alpha dog Reagan chewed on their necks.

Senator Clinton and President Clinton are a charter DLC members; and, I think, the Senator’s fear “that Republicans would label [her and her coming campaign as] soft in the post-September 11 world” motivated her vote to authorize the Iraq adventure. Likewise her vote for the feel good Kyl-Lieberman Act which, amongst other things, designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

Her votes “should be a career-ending lapse[es] of judgment”.

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Posted in Iraq Occupation, 2008 Presidential Election, Clinton | No Comments »

Bamboozlement

Monday, September 10th, 2007

Reporters and pundits have for months been breathlessly awaiting the impending delivery to Congress by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker of a report of the military situation in Iraq. As if the report to Congress would be anything but more bamboozlement from Incurious George’s minions. The president, meanwhile, remains completely incurious. Eagerly awaiting, I suppose, his retirement in early 2009, so he can, eh, eh, you know, “give some speeches, just to replenish the ol’ coffers.”

That the Petraeus/Crocker report is not to be taken seriously is evident in the facts that the military/civilian casualty data, relied upon by Petraeus and Croker to report that things are going just swimmingly in Iraq, remain secret and no written report will be made public; and that Petraeus and Croker will follow up their report to Congress with an exclusive, one hour interview with FOX News propagandist Brit Hume.

Years ago when I worked as a manager for a small city I became involved in labor negotiations, when the employees decided to unionize (responding to the actions of a truly malevolent mayor). What amazed me about the negotiation process was the posturing that occurred. Everyone in the room knew it was nothing but posturing; but, none-the-less, it occurred.

How could anyone possibly even pretend to take the Pretaeus/Croker report for anything more than attempted political theater? And how could anyone, even someone as clueless as GDub, select the appallingly inarticulate Pretaeus, who is even having problems reading his own statement to Congress, to present more Iraq occupation bamboozlement?

But, then again, I don’t understand how anyone could possibly think that wearing ones ball cap backwards is anything more than a threadbare cliche.

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Posted in Croker, Pretaeus, Iraq Occupation, Bush Administration Torture | 1 Comment »

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