The House debating an Iraq withdrawal bill

The House is debating HR2956, the Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act, right now.

The debate is pretty standard, with the supporters of the bill (Democrats) talking about the reasons that U.S. troops should be brought home (it's now a civil/sectarian war, etc.) and opponents of the bill (Republicans) throwing around phrases like "Islamfascism", "national security", "defeatist", "protect the children", "earmarks", "tax increase", etc.

BTW - I'm not kidding about those last three items - check out the floor remarks of the saccharin-mouthed Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling.

Another good one was "this shows a lack of respect and confidence in the abilities of the commanders on the ground."

Nah - we've got plenty of respect for and confidence in the abilities of them; however, their commander-in-chief is an entirely different story.

My personal favorite was the oft-repeated theme of "this bill represents politics taking precedence over policy."

Yo, guys - that's what this war is about, and has been all along.

It's been all about the politics of a would-be imperial President following his own whims, of subjugating national interests to corporate interests (see: oil and no-bid contracts), and of the marketing of fear and bigotry as foreign policy.

Have no doubt - there is no doubt that even if this bill passes the House (better than a 50/50 chance there, I think) and the Senate (unlikely), it will be vetoed by Bush.

So what?

It's time to send a message to him and the warmongers and profiteers.


My one big disappointment -

Nobody in the debate has touched upon the big, bad, boogeyman of the debate, the fact that *we* started the war without just cause. Even the Democrats are only talking about the "Iraqis taking greater responsibility," etc.

The Iraqis didn't break their country.

We did.