It is up to Democrats to end President Bush’s addiction to war

by Mary MacElveen

December 26, 2006

I was going to write a Christmas message to all of my readers, but an error occurred which prevented me from posting any message on my blog. As I see now, it has cleared itself.

With that said, I do hope that all of my readers enjoyed this special day with family and friends. I also hope that our soldiers still deployed over in Iraq and Afghanistan entered our minds as we celebrated a day so full of life. They should have been home amongst their family and friends enjoying the feasts that many of us have now enjoyed. I also mention Afghanistan since that mission has failed as the one in Iraq. With our presence in that country, it has not produced the capture of Osama bin Laden. We must never forget that.

Also what success can be had when it has been reported that an increase in the heroine trade has been seen in that country. What success can be had when CBS reported "Desperate to escape domestic violence, forced marriage and hardship, scores of women across Afghanistan each year are committing suicide by fire." How exactly has our military presence in that country made life better for Afghanis women? Would you not call these acts, acts of terrorism, yet under our noses it is happening? Do we only call it terrorism when it affects American lives?

This alleged ‘War president’ has failed in prosecuting both wars in both of these countries and it is about time as we edge closer to January when Democrats do take power of both houses that we send a clear message to all, and that is to bring our troops home and to stop funding this war.

This president whom some have seen as a business minded president, this is what one businessman, Donald Trump had to say on October 9th, 2006 of this war, “This war is a disaster." I would suppose if President Bush were a contestant on Trump’s show ‘The Apprentice’, Mr. Trump most likely would say to Bush at the end of it, “You’re fired!”

Now getting back to how the Democrats will fair in regards to this war and the funding of it, Congressman Ron Paul (R Texas) had this to add in his Christmas message, “Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. In Iraq, however, war rages on with no end in sight.” I would say that is as hopeless as it gets when it comes to any message.

I was reminded of how this war would never have been prosecuted in the first place as I received a gift on Christmas Day. It was a DVD of Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” and if truth be told, none of these soldiers would be dead today if we had a President Gore leading this nation during these past six years. To listen to Mr. Gore today was a gift unto itself. But, it also reminded me, only if. The breath of his intelligence as he spoke of global warming which man’s terrorism upon Mother Nature is the very intelligence we need today.

In Congressman Paul’s message, he stated, “But what we are going to get from both parties in Washington is more of the same— much more— when it comes to Iraq.” While technically, Congressman Paul is a Republican, he is one of the most independent Republicans by far and is not afraid to speak his mind when it comes to the direction of this country. In order to stop this war, Democrats have got to show some leadership and that will only occur by cutting the purse strings to this war.

This president who loves to use this country’s fiscal reserves as some form of credit line must be stopped dead in his tracks especially when it comes to our continued presence within Iraq. But, his hand must be forced. Sadly, this is what incoming Speaker-elect, Nancy Pelosi had to say, “Let me remove all doubt in anyone’s mind; as long as our troops are in harm’s way, Democrats will be there to support them, but… we will have oversight over that funding,” To that, we must all pressure her to cut these funds in order to pressure President Bush to vacate Iraq. Our continued presence will only bring about a “war with no end in sight” as Congressman Paul stated.

Let’s face the truth that President Bush is an addict and he is addicted to war. We have heard of his earlier addictions and in this case the Democrats must act as interventionists. Lives are dependent upon it.

This is what incoming Majority leader, Steny Hoyer had to add, “None of us want to fail; none of us want to see Iraq as a failure,” A message must be sent to Steny Hoyer that this war is already a failure. There will not be any victory in Iraq and the sooner we embrace that, the better for our soldiers, the Iraqi people and the American people.

Please pay close attention to what Congressman Paul states in this passage, “In fact, the president promised last week that, “They can’t run us out of the Middle East,” and that we will not retreat from Iraq. Worse, he asserted that America will, “Stay in the fight for a long period of time.” According to the President, we must increase the size of our Army and Marine Corps to provide the bodies to make this possible.”

He then goes on to add, “In other words, our troops will stay in Iraq indefinitely. Remember, we are building several huge, permanent military bases there, along with the biggest embassy in the world to serve as the command post for our occupation. The embassy compound alone will cost more than one billion dollars.” So, is President Bush sending more of our military over to fight a war on terror or to protect investments? While I have written of this embassy in the past which was first reported to cost the American tax payer $592 million dollars, I am astonished to read of Congressman Paul’s estimates, but do believe his figure.

Speaking of military bases which involve the use of civilian contractors working for the likes of Halliburton, Kellogg Brown and Root and many more, do we need these forces to protect these civilian workers? Our military should not be used to protect civilian workers, but only for use in combat situations. Also, in regards to military bases, that is one of the primary reasons why the Arab world is so angry with us. They do not want these bases within their countries. Yet, stupid is as stupid does and we do not learn.

When it comes to how any added funds to this war will come from, this is what Cong. Paul states, “The Pentagon, not surprisingly, has requested an additional $100 billion to keep the war going. This money will not be included in the annual budget or deficit numbers, but will be whitewashed as an “off-budget” expenditure.” Once again, Washington, D.C. just loves playing with tax payer money. I surmise that Donald Trump would call for many to be fired at their handling of vast sums of money such as the total above.

While he hammers away at the Democrats in his Christmas message, I believe his credibility in doing so. As we saw, incoming Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid called for an increase in troop levels, then backed down due to increased pressure coming from the electorate. Isn’t that what elected officials are supposed to do in the first place and that is to listen to the electorate? It was the very reason why in November the Democrats were given power to begin with. Now that same pressure must be brought upon Nancy Pelosi to cut the purse strings to this war.

We the electorate who truly care for our soldiers must demand this of our elected officials. CNN has reported as most of us celebrated Christmas, “A soldier was killed Monday when an improvised explosive device detonated near a Multi-National Division patrol, the U.S. military said.” That was a family’s sad gift on this day that is supposed to celebrate life. Somehow many of us must put ourselves in that soldier’s family’s shoes as they will hear of his death and as they go onto celebrate future Christmas Days, it will always bring about a sense of sorrow. On Christmas Day, 2,971 soldiers have been killed in Iraq.

The AP has just reported, U.S. deaths in Iraq exceed 9-11 count. What about the deaths of our troops in Afghanistan? Don’t they matter? What about the deaths of innocent Iraqis? Don’t they matter? What about the deaths of innocent Afghanis? Don’t they matter? If you include all of those that I just included, we surpassed the 9/11 count long ago.

It is up to Democrats to end Bush’s addiction to war once and for all. That was the message sent to Washington this past Election Day and it is up to Democrats to abide by the message that came from we the people.

In the piece in which I targeted Senator Harry Reid, I gave out his Washington, D.C. office so that my readers could call him when he called for an increase in troops; I now call upon my readers to do the same with Nancy Pelosi. Her Washington, D.C. office phone number is, (202) 225-4965.

http://www.marymacelveen.com/blog/_archives/2006/12/26/2597248.html