Another cave-in by Congressional Democrats. Another deal to keep the war going, in exchange for a few crumbs.
Today is Iraq Moratorium day. Do something to let them know what you think.
It’s true that 151 Democrats voted against the war funding. So, if you want to thank them, go ahead — but don’t thank them too much, David Swanson says. Here’s the roll call.
“Not a single one of them did a damned thing more than vote no,” Swanson (left), of Democrats.com, ImpeachCheney.org and , AfterDowningStreet.org said in a Milwaukee appearance Thursday night. They didn’t issue public statements to the media, write their colleagues, or do anything to press to defeat the bill. “They voted no, knowing it would pass.”
That’s not why Americans elected a new Congressional majority in 2006, Swanson said. We elected them to end the war in Iraq. Instead, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Dems like David Obey are happy to have negotiated a bill that the Republicans would vote for and pass. “They are hiding behind the troops,” Swanson said, when a majority of Americans in a Democrats.com poll said they would stop funding the war and bring the troops home within six months.
Democrats say we have to keep funding the occupation because it’s dangerous “to do what the majority wants” in an election year, Swanson said. They want us to elect them again so that they can do what they didn’t do last time we elected them. But by spring, it will be only 18 months until the next election, so it will be dangerous again to vote to end the war, he said.
The fact that the House also voted for money for new veterans benefits, for unemployment benefits, and for flood relief is no consolation for funding the war.
Who wouldn’t support those items if they came up as separate bills, Swanson asked.
Instead, the veterans benefits are attached as an amendment to a bill that will result in many more deaths, physical and psychological injuries to American troops and Iraqis, and damage the US economy.