Both Pres. Bush and Congress will keep our troops in Iraq

Both Pres. Bush and Congress will keep our troops in Iraq
By Mary MacElveen
April 10, 2007

In this Countdown feed it is becoming evident that President Bush will get his way as it pertains to the handling of this war. I do believe as Keith Olbermann does that the senate Democrats “are beginning to blink” when it comes to setting up arbitrary timelines for our withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

As you listen to this feed, Senator Carl Levin stated, “We are not going to jeopardize the funding of the troops.” Will they pull that withdrawal language from that bill? In all likeliness I do believe that will happen since they do not have the votes to override any veto coming from President Bush.

While Olbermann believes that the senate Democrats blinked, we must bear in mind that senate Republicans are not showing any leadership by standing up to this president. In essence both parties let the American people down who do favor an end to this war. More importantly as stated in this one feed, they let our soldiers down when Olbermann stated that 51 soldiers have lost their lives in the past seven weeks.

Richard Wolffe of Newsweek even stated of the Democratic leadership that “they prefer to stand up to their own anti-war base then they prefer to stand up to this president” If that is true, then how can they show leadership within the next two years? This was the paramount issue in which the voters gave them the majority. Are they deserving of such when they will not stand up to this president?

Wolffe even went further as to say, “They don’t want to own this war” well like it or not both senate and house Democrats do own this war. In fact, many of them did vote for this war and have voted time-and-time again to fund it during these past four years. Contained with one appropriations bill that passed in September of 2005, $592 billion went towards the building of an American embassy in which The Nation magazine reported of this embassy that it is, "Surrounded by fifteen-foot-thick walls, almost as large as the Vatican"

The Nation also asked the pointed question, "So you think the Bush Administration is planning on leaving Iraq?" I do not think so especially when this embassy will contain as reported by The Nation magazine "twenty-one buildings, 619 apartments with very fancy digs for the big shots, restaurants, shops, gym facilities, a swimming pool, a food court, a beauty salon, a movie theater (we can’t say if it’s a multiplex) and, as the Times of London reports, "a swish club for evening functions."

Also reported by The Nation, “USA Today has learned that the "massive new embassy, being built on the banks of the Tigris River, is designed to be entirely self-sufficient and won’t be dependent on Iraq’s unreliable public utilities." We have heard and read in the past where the utilities that Iraqis rely upon to live have been devastated by this war. These are utilities that you and I take for granted such as sewage, water and electricity. No wonder it will be a self-sufficient behemoth and the Iraqi people be damned.

We must remember that Also contained within that one bill were monies to build military bases within Iraq. How exactly are building these monstrosities funding our troops? My guess is that fancy digs and military bases trump the lives of our soldiers. Don’t you? That is what is not being told to the American people by both parties. In this age of transparency; don’t you think they should level with the American people who are growing concerned over the well being of our troops? Shouldn’t this White House disclose these facts to the American people?

If Wolffe is correct when he stated of senate Democrats, “They don’t want to own this problem, but leave it with the president.” That is where they are showing their weakness and not their strength.

The AP just reported this morning that the president has invited Democrats to the White House to discuss “their standoff over a war-funding bill, but he will not budge from his opposition to troop-withdrawal deadlines” Will the Democrats acquiesce to the president? One only has to see Bush’s disdain for congress when Dana Perino (White House spokesperson) stated that these congressional leaders were invited to "discuss with him how they are going to be able to bring him a clean bill that he can sign," Which translates into stripping that funding bill of the withdrawal language.

She went onto say, "I will point out this is not a negotiation." Whatever happened to congress being a co-equal branch of the federal government? It disappeared when Bush came into office in 2001. Then again he had a Republican congress which acted like a rubber stamp instead of body of checks and balances.

Perino also stated, "Maybe they need to hear again from the president about why he thinks it is foolish to set arbitrary timetables for withdrawal," Tell that to those 51 soldier’s families who have died in the past seven weeks. Try selling that to the family members that lost ten soldiers this past weekend.

The Iraqis through their protests have told the United States government to get out of their country as they were being led by Moqtada al-Sadr. In fact, Olbermann opined that “Whatever democracy they have in Iraq is not satisfying the needs of the Iraqi people.”

Wolffe even chimed in that at one time President Bush thought “Iraq would turn into an ally on the war on terror” but it was this opinion by Wolffe that Iraq “looks like Iran.” That should concern all of us. Did no one in Washington, D.C. foresee this when it came to the original authorization to go to war in Iraq? Again, I wish to reiterate that the original resolution was only a poll taken that gave Bush permission to take his argument to the United Nations Security Council and was not one that did give him actual permission to go to war. In this past piece I did lay out exactly what a resolution is, but it seems that our congress did not pay attention to that little detail.

If I were the Amazing Karnac played by the late Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, I would hold an envelope up to my head which asks, “Will our troops be coming home anytime soon?” I would then open it up only to find the answer to be “No” But, one does not have to be a fortune teller or a psychic to answer that. Our troops will continue to be sent over into this meat grinder and the will of the people ignored by the president and congress.

Author’s note: Should you wish to email me, my address is, xmjmac@optonline.net Also, please go to the link below to connect to all hyperlinks embedded within the piece.

http://www.marymacelveen.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/10/2870641.html