Is the War Lost?
Senator Harry Reid is quoted as saying it is; however, I believe he had framed it in the form of a rhetorical question. I believe it is. And, my belief is, nothing can be done to win it. It's unwinnable. Let's ask another question. When was it lost? I would say the damned thing was lost the same day it was conceived.
Yes, I say we never should have started it. Once we did, we had lost.
So Well Put, Congressman
My congressman. the Honorable (one of the very, very few to whom this much used title is not ludicrous) Ron Paul, truly has a way with words. When he speaks of this murderous, less than useless, wasteful war in Iraq, usually I think he's spoken my belief but has just put it better and more concisely. More politely, too.
This speech before the House of Representatives was on today's Lew Rockwell site. Thanks, Dr. Paul.
We Just Marched In (So We Can Just March Out)
by Ron Paul
Before the U.S. House of Representatives, April 17, 2007
All the reasons given to justify a preemptive strike against Iraq were wrong. Congress and the American people were misled.
Support for the war came from various special interests that had agitated for an invasion of Iraq since 1998. The Iraq Liberation Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton, stated that getting rid of Saddam Hussein was official U.S. policy. This policy was carried out in 2003.
Congress failed miserably in meeting its crucial obligations as the branch of government charged with deciding whether to declare war. It wrongly and unconstitutionally transferred this power to the president, and the president did not hesitate to use it.
Although it is clear there was no cause for war, we just marched in. Our leaders deceived themselves and the public with assurances that the war was righteous and would be over quickly. Their justifications were false, and they failed to grasp even basic facts about the chaotic political and religious history of the region.
Congress bears the greater blame for this fiasco. It reneged on its responsibility to declare or not declare war. It transferred this decision-making power to the executive branch, and gave open sanction to anything the president did. In fact the founders diligently tried to prevent the executive from possessing this power, granting it to Congress alone in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution.
Today just about everyone acknowledges the war has gone badly, and 70% of the American people want it to end. Our national defense is weakened, the financial costs continue to drain us, our allies have deserted us, and our enemies are multiplying – not to mention the tragic toll of death and injury suffered by American forces.
Iraq is a mess, and we urgently need a new direction – but our leaders offer only hand wringing and platitudes. They have no clear-cut ideas to end the suffering and war. Even the most ardent war hawks cannot begin to define victory in Iraq.
As an Air Force officer serving from 1963–1968, I heard the same agonizing pleas from the American people. These pleas were met with the same excuses about why we could not change a deeply flawed policy and rethink the war in Vietnam. That bloody conflict, also undeclared and unconstitutional, seems to have taught us little despite the horrific costs.
Once again, though everyone now accepts that the original justifications for invading Iraq were not legitimate, we are given excuses for not leaving. We flaunt our power by building permanent military bases and an enormous billion-dollar embassy, yet claim we have no plans to stay in Iraq permanently. Assurances that our presence in Iraq has nothing to do with oil are not believed in the Middle East.
The argument for staying – to prevent civil war and bring stability to the region – logically falls on deaf ears.
If the justifications for war were wrong;
If the war is going badly;
If we can’t afford the costs, both human and economic;
If civil war and chaos have resulted from our occupation;
If the reasons for staying are no more credible than the reasons for going;
THEN…..
Why the dilemma? The American people have spoken, and continue to speak out, against this war. So why not end it? How do we end it? Why not exactly the way we went in? We just marched in, and we can just march out.
More good things may come of it than anyone can imagine. Consider our relationship with Vietnam, now our friendly trading partner. Certainly we are doing better with her than when we tried to impose our will by force. It is time to march out of Iraq and march home.
Don Imus, So What
I never really liked and very seldom watched any of Don Imus on TV. That was probably because I seldom agreed with whatever I happened to hear coming from his mouth.
On McNeil/Lehrer the other day I heard a replay of his comments made during the NCAA women's basketball final. His statement about the Rutgers girls being big, tough, and tattooed was just an observation. No problem there. But the further "nappy" comments went, in my opinion, too far. These women hadn't done anything to deserve that. Imus himself admitted this and has accepted a two week suspension from his network.
But, as a letter writer to today's Houston Chronicle stated, "On any given day, you can find a rapper referring to young black women in terms even worse than what Imus called them." I don't listen to rappers but can accept this as true. That's from things I've read. And there's no great surge of criticism of their doing it. Imus's problem seems to be mostly that he made these comments while white. Obviously, that's unforgivable.
The thing that really pushes me into Imus's corner, though, is the way black bigots Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson rose up against him. These two guys, Sharpton and Jackson, were recently, of course, in Durham, North Carolina stirring up trouble and pressuring for a conviction of three white Duke lacrosse players falsely accused of rape. These charges are expected to be formally dropped at a 2:30 EDT news conference today. Al Sharpton was also neck-deep in that Tawana Brawley hoax some years back. Yes, if this comedy tag-team of Jackson and Sharpton are for something, I've got to be against it. It's just the way I am.
