[Peace-discuss] How to get out now

[C. G. Estabrook]

[William Lind writes in Counterpunch today that it is not difficult] to 
design legislative language that both ends the war and supports the 
troops. All the Democratic majorities in Congress have to do is 
condition the funding for the Iraq war with the words, "No funds may be 
obligated or expended except for the withdrawal of all American forces 
from Iraq, and for such force protection actions as may be necessary 
during that withdrawal." If Bush vetoes the bill, he vetoes continued 
funding for the war. If he signs the bill, ignores the legislative 
language and keeps fighting the war in the same old way, he sets himself 
up for impeachment.  What's not to like?

For the Democrats, what's not to like is anything that might actually 
end the war before the 2008 elections. The Republicans have 21 Senate 
seats up in 2008, and if the Iraq war is still going on, they can count 
on losing most of them, along with the Presidency and maybe 100 more 
seats in the House. 2008 could be the new 1932, leaving the Republican 
Party a permanent minority for twenty years. From the standpoint of the 
Democratic Party's leadership, a few thousand more dead American troops 
is a small price to pay for so glowing a political victory.

Ironically, the people who should be most desperate to end the war are 
Congressional Republicans. Their heads are on the chopping block. But 
they remain so paralyzed by the White House that they cannot act even to 
save themselves. The March 2 Washington Times reported that

Republicans in Congress -- including most who have defected from 
President Bush's plan to send reinforcements to Iraq -- have closed 
ranks and are prepared to thwart the Democrats' continued efforts to 
undermine the war strategy

All but one of the seven Senate Republicans that backed the anti-surge 
resolution in their chamber say they will not support any funding cuts.

The likely result of all this Washington dodging is that events on the 
ground in Iraq and elsewhere will outrun the political process. That in 
turn means a systemic crisis, the abandonment of both parties by their 
bases and a possible left-right grass roots alliance against the corrupt 
and incompetent center. In that possibility may lie the nation's best hope.

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