Thursday, May 20, 2004
It's Been a While
I have not bothered to write in quite a while. I don't understand where the many talented prolific bloggers out there find the time. Part of the reason that I have not contributed here is that I was busy posting comments elsewhere. Still it is time to get a few thoughts down.
The Iraq war, as predicted by most thoughtful people from the beginning, is going badly. This is a mammoth understatement. I am trying to find some hope in the fact that of late even Iraqi invasion cheerleaders such as William Kristol have admitted that "Bush had driven the car into the ditch" in Iraq. The really annoying thing about Kristol is that he will not admit that the doctrine of pre-emption was dangerous and wrong from the beginning; only that setbacks were due to a "failure of execution". This guy is a total piece of garbage who should be made to spend the next year in Falluja.
The prisoner abuse scandal is getting worse by the day. We are now entering a new phase where outright murder is being revealed. Up to now, although plenty of evidence of brutality beyond so-called merely embarrassing prisoners has come out, many apologists for the administration from the blowhard media have been getting away with telling the uninformed that no actual torture has taken place just frat boy style humiliation. The story of the Iraqi prisoner beaten to death and then packed in ice while the CIA and US military intelligence argued over who was going to dispose of the body is the final straw.
A poll recently conducted in Iraq revealed that 90% of Iraqis believe that we are occupiers not peace keepers. There is no remaining justification for the invasion now that the always specious: "for humanitarian reasons" is clearly out the window.
It is essential that we listen to the advice of people such as Dennis Kucinich and immediately get our troops out of Iraq. Clearly we cannot "win" this war and every day that we stay we endanger the lives of anyone allied with us. We must announce a plan of unconditional, unilateral withdrawal of all of our combat troops, apologize to the world community and ask for help in forming a truly global effort to bring humanitarian relief and peace keepers upon our departure to prevent further bloodshed.
It is unimaginable that this could take place without regime change in Washington coming first. My concern is that waiting for January 20, 2005 for this to happen could prove to be very costly in terms of Iraqi and American lives not to mention long term relations between the US and the Arab world.
Therefore I believe that we should pursue any and all legal means for removing Bush/Cheney from office at the earliest possible time. In other words I am calling for immediate regime change. This could be accomplished in several ways including by seeking impeachment grounds relating to war crimes or the knowing cover-up of war crimes, intentional misleading of Congress and the American people to justify and invasion, Enron related crimes, and/or the Valerie Plame illegal outing.
An approach I would prefer would be to seek allies within the Republican party who by now must be aware of the danger of continuing under Bush not to mention the folly of having him run as the party standard bearer in the upcoming election. Responsible Republicans (there must be a few) should put pressure on Bush to announce at the earliest possible time that, like LBJ before him, he will not seek a second term. He should immediately cease campaigning and work diligently not for victory but for the peaceful extrication of our forces with minimum harm to Iraqis. In this scenario Bush may be allowed to complete his term as a lame duck or be asked to resign along with the architects of the war including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. The line of succession would then point to Speaker of the House Hastert, then President Pro Temp of the Senate Ted Stevens of Alaska followed by Secretary of State Colin Powell. If Cheney were to resign first then succession could be controlled by the president naming a Vice President who would have to be confirmed by the Senate and then would become the President upon the resignation of Bush.
Who should this interim president be? If Colin Powell had not ruined his reputation before the UN I would suggest him. Senator John McCain may be acceptable to Republicans, I know he would have no trouble with Senate confirmation. He could then run for President as an incumbent and probably win. If the Republicans were smart they would jump at this last chance to retain the oval office. Still it's a long shot.
I have not bothered to write in quite a while. I don't understand where the many talented prolific bloggers out there find the time. Part of the reason that I have not contributed here is that I was busy posting comments elsewhere. Still it is time to get a few thoughts down.
The Iraq war, as predicted by most thoughtful people from the beginning, is going badly. This is a mammoth understatement. I am trying to find some hope in the fact that of late even Iraqi invasion cheerleaders such as William Kristol have admitted that "Bush had driven the car into the ditch" in Iraq. The really annoying thing about Kristol is that he will not admit that the doctrine of pre-emption was dangerous and wrong from the beginning; only that setbacks were due to a "failure of execution". This guy is a total piece of garbage who should be made to spend the next year in Falluja.
The prisoner abuse scandal is getting worse by the day. We are now entering a new phase where outright murder is being revealed. Up to now, although plenty of evidence of brutality beyond so-called merely embarrassing prisoners has come out, many apologists for the administration from the blowhard media have been getting away with telling the uninformed that no actual torture has taken place just frat boy style humiliation. The story of the Iraqi prisoner beaten to death and then packed in ice while the CIA and US military intelligence argued over who was going to dispose of the body is the final straw.
A poll recently conducted in Iraq revealed that 90% of Iraqis believe that we are occupiers not peace keepers. There is no remaining justification for the invasion now that the always specious: "for humanitarian reasons" is clearly out the window.
It is essential that we listen to the advice of people such as Dennis Kucinich and immediately get our troops out of Iraq. Clearly we cannot "win" this war and every day that we stay we endanger the lives of anyone allied with us. We must announce a plan of unconditional, unilateral withdrawal of all of our combat troops, apologize to the world community and ask for help in forming a truly global effort to bring humanitarian relief and peace keepers upon our departure to prevent further bloodshed.
It is unimaginable that this could take place without regime change in Washington coming first. My concern is that waiting for January 20, 2005 for this to happen could prove to be very costly in terms of Iraqi and American lives not to mention long term relations between the US and the Arab world.
Therefore I believe that we should pursue any and all legal means for removing Bush/Cheney from office at the earliest possible time. In other words I am calling for immediate regime change. This could be accomplished in several ways including by seeking impeachment grounds relating to war crimes or the knowing cover-up of war crimes, intentional misleading of Congress and the American people to justify and invasion, Enron related crimes, and/or the Valerie Plame illegal outing.
An approach I would prefer would be to seek allies within the Republican party who by now must be aware of the danger of continuing under Bush not to mention the folly of having him run as the party standard bearer in the upcoming election. Responsible Republicans (there must be a few) should put pressure on Bush to announce at the earliest possible time that, like LBJ before him, he will not seek a second term. He should immediately cease campaigning and work diligently not for victory but for the peaceful extrication of our forces with minimum harm to Iraqis. In this scenario Bush may be allowed to complete his term as a lame duck or be asked to resign along with the architects of the war including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. The line of succession would then point to Speaker of the House Hastert, then President Pro Temp of the Senate Ted Stevens of Alaska followed by Secretary of State Colin Powell. If Cheney were to resign first then succession could be controlled by the president naming a Vice President who would have to be confirmed by the Senate and then would become the President upon the resignation of Bush.
Who should this interim president be? If Colin Powell had not ruined his reputation before the UN I would suggest him. Senator John McCain may be acceptable to Republicans, I know he would have no trouble with Senate confirmation. He could then run for President as an incumbent and probably win. If the Republicans were smart they would jump at this last chance to retain the oval office. Still it's a long shot.
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