Sirotablog
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. David writes about political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties.
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May 25, 2007 7:51 AM
How Many Troops Will Die, EJ? Or Did You Just Forget About That?
E.J. Dionne has a piece in the Washington Post saying it's AOK to wait until September to deal with the Iraq War. "See you in September!" he cheerily tells us. What's amazing is that he doesn't take even one line to explore how many American troops will be killed or maimed between now and when we "see you in September!"
It's sick - it's a big game to all these people in Washington. When people use the metaphor "blood on their hands" it is columns like Dionne's that they are referring to.
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About David Sirota
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Takeover. He lives in Denver, Colorado. His daily blog can be found at CREDO Action. He contributes regularly to the Denver Post's Web site, is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and is working on his second book. He has been profiled in Newsweek and the Rocky Mountain News and is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties. Sirota serves as co-chair of the Progressive States Network, a 501(c)3 organization that supports state legislators and that is a partner of CREDO.
You can subscribe to Sirota's e-mail newsletter by going to davidsirota.com and signing up in the lefthand corner. To find out more about Sirota, download his official biography or see his recent media appearances. You can e-mail him at sirota@credoaction.com.
The views expressed on this blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent the views of Working Assets (publisher of CREDO Action) or the institutions Sirota works for.
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Discussion
I just got off the phone with Senator Brown's Cleveland office after asking for an explanation of his capitulation. I was told that he had outside alleged budget experts confirm that yes, the troops would be left throwing bullets--or perhaps rocks--at the enemy, that there would be no money to bring them home, etc. Then, there was the minimum wage increase and veteran benefits. Finally, the funding/war issue is not over.
Well, I suggested it will be over for all the troops that will die during this "surge." I said I did not believe the budget explantion and certainly do not believe troops will fail to be paid or be "laid off." I also said that Senator Brown has made two of the most disappointing votes that anyone has made in my lifetime--supporting the tribunals and now the funding capitulations.
I do NOT understand these positions. First, a funding bill was already passed. Pass it again, let Bush veto it a thousand times. Then let him explain why the troops aren't being supported. Seventy percent of us want them home--alive. So who isn't supporting the troops here?????
The bottom line is that these kids in Iraq have been sold out.
Where's a list of the Republi-lites who pushed for this betrayal?
BTW I just got a copy of the American Legion Magazine. It had an article praising the out-of-touch old goat vets who are protesting the protesters.
We need more Desert Storm and Iraqi vets to step up and join the Legion, the VFW, and the DAV, and let these guys know just how misplaced their loyalty is.
They need to stick up for the soldiers and Marines who are stuck in this morass, ill-supported by their own government, cheated by unsupervised no-bid contractors, and stuck with a non-support system that penalizes them for coming back wounded but alive.
Or join Vets against the War, or Veterans for Peace.
Recent vets! Support your own!
Celebrate Memorial Day by joining a veterans' group. Educate the old boys as to exactly what things are going on over there!
It ain't just Dionee and beltway crowd spinning this stinking pile, Markos of "Crashing the Gates" DKos and Arianna are doing much the same thing. Markos is going so far as to say "Democrats ... are promising to keep putting pressure on the administration and using other legislative vehicles to impose withdrawal deadlines and other accountability provisions.
They let us down this time. But the opportunities for them to make amends still exist."
So much for "crashing the gates" eh Mr.Party hack.
You sure must love being on Pelosi's and Rahm's rolodex to actually endorse this steaming pile of crap.
BTW but you just endorsed the craven and treacherous behaviour thats just green lighted the deaths of hundreds more American soldiers and thousands of Iraqis, not to mention letting Bush know he faces no opposition to a war with Iran or anything else he wants.
Hope that blood on your hands never washes off you smirking jackass(Markos).
"They need to stick up for the soldiers and Marines who are stuck in this morass, ill-supported by their own government, cheated by unsupervised no-bid contractors, and stuck with a non-support system that penalizes them for coming back wounded but alive." - butte
Perfectly stated.
This is the ultimate hypocrisy that screams out at us as we watch Dick Cheney and Bush preen and posture as "supporting the troops", while the gutless Democrats watch helplessly.
This is also why I felt all warm inside when Jim Webb came very close to punching the smirk off of George W.'s face.
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To me, the actual problem here is not failing to order the pullout of US troops, nor success or failure in any kind of political gamesmanship.
The catastrophic failure here is that the Democratic leadership has just declared flatly that they have no balls. Zero fortitude. This is a clear signal to a shark like Rove that there will be no legislative obstacles to the will of the Bush administration, for the next year and a half.
They might nip at some heels with inquiries, but the White House has plenty of fodder they can toss overboard to stall and obfuscate, protecting Rove, Cheney, and Bush from any damage until they are long gone.
In short, the Democratic leadership of Congress is in a state of abject failure.
If the base and the freshmen do not get their shit together immediately and correct this, the '08 election is going to be a clusterf#ck of third party candidates.
And if there is a upsurge in 3rd party turn-out its going to kill the Democrats, because they are very susceptible to 3rd party pols stealing their voters.
This is why Democrats go hysterical and spit blood everytime someone mentions voting Green Party. They know their voter base is extremely thin and without independents voting(D) a lot of their folks will lose.
It they will given their betrayals on Iraq, Free Trade and immigration.
BTW it looks like according to Drudge Bush just gutted the Democratic Iraq withdraw plans for good. What a bunch of losers and fools the Democrats turned out to be.
FDR would disown the buggers given the magnitude of their collosal fuck-ups.
Why isn't E.J. writing about Bush declaring himself Dictator with his own Presidential Directives..?
NSPD-51 or HSPD-20
http://www.fas.org/irp/offodcs/nspd/nspd-51.htm
Happy Memorial Day..!
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspd/nspd-51.htm
Sorry typo this is the link to the documents..
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