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From an analysis piece in today's Washington Post:
...yesterday's vote signaled peril for the Democratic congressional leadership as well. Despite deep Republican discontent with the course of the war, Democrats were unable to persuade more than 17 members of the president's party to register that dissatisfaction with their votes. If Democratic leaders could not build a broader bipartisan coalition for a symbolic vote, it may prove much harder to attract Republican support for proposals to limit Bush's options in Iraq.
Many Democratic strategists remain allergic to repeating the finale of the Vietnam War, when Congress voted to cut funds for the South Vietnamese government and the nation fell to the North in 1975. For years afterward, Democrats have struggled to shed the image of being soft on defense, which is why they were so eager to bring along more Republicans yesterday.
...Administration allies warned about the precedent beyond Bush as well. "If Congress proceeds to throttle the president's strategy, then it will seriously undercut the ability of future presidents to do what they need to do to protect the nation in a time of war," said James Phillips, a foreign policy scholar at the Heritage Foundation. "It's a mistake to think you can effectively run a war by committee."
The Dems' plan seems to be that if they cut funds to our troops, our troops will get killed, leading to our army being forced to flee Iraq - defeated not by the enemies of freedom and democracy -- all of whom are on the run from us in Iraq -- but instead, defeated by a back-stabbing Democrat party -- a party that may destroy its own political future in the process.
Our troops have fought, and over 3000 of them have died, to accomplish a mission. For the Democrats to sabotage that mission, would be unforgivable. If the Dems thought that their actions in Vietnam harmed their own party, actions such as these, if taken in Iraq, could destroy it.
Update 2-17-07: The Senate Republicans today moved to continue debate on a bill similar to the one passed by Congress yesterday. (This bill condemns the troop surge, and is considered a precursor to a move by Dems to take funding away from our troops, even while they are in harm's way.) Democrats voted to halt debate and move to a vote on the bill. This action by Republicans is seen as having blocked passage of the bill. The Republicans stood for real support for our troops -- not lip service, but the real support of providing the funds our troops need for their mission. Every single Democrat voted to cut off debate and vote. These Democrats have risked disgracing themselves in the eyes of our military and their families, by their threats to cut off funding support to American troops who are in harm's way. The Dems must turn away from this path, that is so full of danger to our troops, to our nation, and to the Democratic party itself.
#1I have to wonder how far the Dems have to dig us into a hole, before the U.S. populace will wake up. I still have a sneaking feeling that their "victory" in the Nov 2006 election was a blessing in disguise. They have two years to make idiots of themselves and prove the party's incompetence in the current instable world political situation before the presidential election.
I just hope they don't manage to do so much damage that by 2008 we are in greater danger as a nation than we are now.
Politicians make no difference.
We have bought into the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) ever since we took on Russia in the Cold WAR.
Through a combination of public apathy and threats by the MIC we have let the SYSTEM get too large. It is now a SYSTEMIC problem and the SYSTEM is out of control.
I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
There is no conspiracy. The SYSTEM has gotten so big that those who make it up and run it day to day in industry and government simply are perpetuating their existance.
The politicians rely on them for details and recommendations because they cannot possibly grasp the nuances of the environment and the BIG SYSTEM.
So, the system has to go bust and then be re-scaled, fixed and re-designed to run efficiently and prudently, just like any other big machine that runs poorly or becomes obsolete or dangerous.
This situation will right itself through trauma. I see a government ENRON on the horizon, with an associated house cleaning.
The next president will come and go along with his appointees and politicos. The event to watch is the collapse of the MIC.
For more details see:
http://www.rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com