I didn't.

Watch your Representatives, watch their new statements about the war. Think back to what they told you about the Iraq War during the last campaign. Search the web if you don't remember. E-mail them their 'Bring the troops home!' crowdpleasers, their condemnations of Bush's War that got them cheered before the election. Remind them.

The new plan is to increase the troops by a third, and battle al Sadr and the Mahdi Army for Baghdad and the Anbar Province. You didn't vote for this. If this plays out the way Bush wants, single party America is confirmed. Every incumbent who lands on the wrong side of this will have to go in 2008.

Can you believe that fifty years ago, a President who was a General could say something like this to the American people?

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." -- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, April 16, 1953

alternative press review wrote:Take This War and Shove It

By Ron Jacobs

Talk about stepping into the abyss. George Bush and his Pentagon allies are considering increasing the number of troops in Iraq by 40,000. The idea is supported by some members of Congress, although John McCain is the only one so far to express his support publicly. This is despite the fact that over 60% of US residents want the troops out of there sooner rather than later. Not only does the Bush position represent another blow to the idea that the people of the US run the country, it is a blatant kick in the voters' face. Yet, as long as Congress continues to give the White House and Pentagon whatever monies they want to fight the war, any other legislative actions mean less than zero.

Dennis Kucinich kicked off his 2008 Presidential Campaign this week over this one issue- defunding the war. Forget the short funny looking guy that Kucinich is- this is your anti-war candidate for 2008. Who will have better positions than Kucinich when the primaries begin? Obama won't. You know Hillary won't. McCain is a deranged warmonger.

Sadly Kucinich's odds of getting elected are about as good as me passing myself off as a black guy.

All I can say is, if we start now, it won't hurt.

I heard someone say that if we just pulled out of Iraq and left it in shambles, it would just be one *more* example of how immoral we are.
This resonates with me, strangely.

I thought this war was stupid from day one, but if we don't emply some sort of Marshall Plan, which would probably involve sending more troops (and should have been done 2 years ago) then what do we do?
Really, I'm just asking.
I don't want to be there, but man, pulling out seems like a terrible thing to do. We're bored with this toy so we're going home.

People are bitching about how the Iraqis should take over, but WTF, we go in, mess the place up bigtime, ruin the infrastructure and then say "alright, all yours now, buddies."

I do think we need to shift this thing to full on humaitarian mode now, but that means keeping many people over there.

What a damn mess.

-A

I don't know how they find 40,000 people who want to fight. Sacrifice yourself for someone else's greed and elitism. Kill and die so they don't have to.

alex maiolo wrote: then what do we do?

I hear everything you're saying, but I also think that what you are saying is exactly what the administration expected humanity-conscious Americans to say once they successfully decoupled the sects of Iraq from a functional government. Essentially, the administration has blackmailed us, by generating conditions that only the US military seems suited to respond to.

What it comes down to for me are these questions:

Can you stand the casualty toll on the innocents if we pull the troops out?

I think our presence prolongs the insurgency. We are the rallying point. After an initial surge of violence following the withdrawal ( that *will include * more horrific ethnic cleansing- that will continue whether we stay or go ), I think that the Sunnis and Shiites will gradually partition up the land, and as the lines are drawn, violence will begin to subside. It largely depends on how eager the Saudis and Iranians are to fight a proxy war in Iraq, and on the arms supply.

Can you stand up to the demands of Israel?

Israel will see a reduced US presence as a complete betrayal. It's the exact opposite of what the Likudniks want: for the US to widen its role as Middle East cop and to disarm Iran and Syria and Hezbollah.

Can you accept paying much more for oil?

If Iraq doesn't complete its transformation into a globalist client state, then the Arab world has more oil to use as an economic weapon against the West.

What I've said before is that we stole Iraq using lies- despite the awful condition it will be in when we end our imperialist adventure, and despite the power vacuum that will be filled ( temporarily ) by tribal warfare, the only moral way to fix our crime is to end the theft, cold turkey, and to make substantial reparations to whichever strongman rises to power in our place, even to al Sadr. Regretfully, because of the amount of depleted uranium we've unloaded on that region over two wars, we'll be killing Iraqis and generating birth defects for decades to come whether we stay or go.

Dems and Reps are the same on most issues. It always cracks me up when people get excited about the Dems and how great they are. They are great -- great liars!

They agree on the war in Iraq.
They agree that offshoring our jobs is good.
They agree that medical care is for people with good jobs (which they are shipping off).
They agree that corporations should be subsidized.
They agree that welfare should be cut.

Most political science professors will agree that there is not a tremendous difference between the two parties and that your vote is worth very little. In fact, it is irrational to vote, because the time and effort it takes is more expensive than the amount of political efficacy it actually gives you.

You are basically voting for stem cell research, but I haven't heard the Democrats say much about that lately. Stem cell research is important, though. We'll see if it makes the agenda...

I always hear people say "America is the greatest democracy in the world". No. America is not a democracy, but a republic. We elect people who represent us. Unfortunately, these people are elites who really don't give much of a shit about us.

With the information technology we have today, it would be entirely possible for citizens to vote on individual pieces of legislation. That is democracy, Athens style. Most Americans are leftists, yet our policies are remarkably backwards and represent corporate interests.

Anyway, rock the vote and all that shit...

fuck WAR
Go Irak
US sucks

I always hear people say "America is the greatest democracy in the world". No. America is not a democracy, but a republic. We elect people who represent us.

congratulations, you've expressed the political acumen of a stoned pop-punk fan.

alex maiolo wrote:I thought this war was stupid from day one, but if we don't emply some sort of Marshall Plan, which would probably involve sending more troops (and should have been done 2 years ago) then what do we do?
Really, I'm just asking.

I think that we should ask the Iraqi people what they want. This is the only rational solution.