This month we have witnessed an increasingly detached and isolated presidency impose its unilateral philosophy and tactics on more than war planning. They are undermining the premise of checks and balances, hiding behind the myth they are nurture that we, the people, will not challenge them and Congress will be timid in the end.
Miz Molly Ivins Jan. 11, 2007 Stand Up Against the Surge: The purpose of this old-fashioned newspaper crusade (see below) to stop the war is not to make George W. Bush look like the dumbest president ever. People have done dumber things. What were they thinking when they bought into the Bay of Pigs fiasco? How dumb was the Egypt-Suez war? How massively stupid was the entire war in Vietnam? Even at that, the challenge with this misbegotten adventure is that WE simply cannot let it continue. Congress must work for the people in the resolution of this fiasco. Ted Kennedy's proposal to control the money and tighten oversight is a welcome first step. And if Republicans want to continue to rubber-stamp this administration's idiotic "plans" and go against the will of the people, they should be thrown out as soon as possible, to join their recent colleagues. We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge. If you can, go to the peace march in Washington on January 27. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, "Stop it, now!" http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0111-31.htm <http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0111-31.htm> The Battle of Iraq: Stop this war, Now! By Molly Ivins, Jan. 05, 2007 The president of the United States does not have the sense God gave a duckso its up to us. You and me, Bubba. I dont know why Bush is just standing there like a frozen rabbit, but its time we found out. The fact is we have to do something about it. This country is being torn apart by an evil and unnecessary war, and it has to be stopped now. This war is being prosecuted in our names, with our money, with our blood, against our will. Polls consistently show that less than 30% of the people want to maintain current troop levels. It is obscene and wrong for the president to go against the people in this fashion. And its doubly wrong for him to send 20,0000 more soldiers into this hellhole, as he reportedly will announce next week. What happened to the nation that never tortured? The nation that wasnt supposed to start wars of choice? The nation that respected human rights and life? A nation that from the beginning was against tyranny? Where have we gone? How did we let these people take us there? How did we let them fool us? Its a monstrous idea to put people in prison and keep them there. Since 1215, civil authorities have been obligated to tell people with what they are charged if theyre arrested. This administration has done away with rights first enshrined in the Magna Carta nearly 800 years ago, and weve let them do it. This will be a regular feature of mine, like an old-fashioned newspaper campaign. Every column, Ill write about this war until we find some way to end it. STOP IT NOW. BAM! Every day, we will review some factor we should have gotten right. So lets take a step back and note, for example, that before the war one of the architects of the entire policy, Paul Wolfowitz, testified to Congress that Iraq had no history of ethnic strife. Sectarian and ethnic strife is a part of the region. And the region is full of examples of Western colonial powers trying to occupy countries, take their resources and take over the administration of their peopleand failing. The sectarian bloodbath we see daily completely refutes Wolfowitz. And now Bush has given him the World Bank to run. Wonder what hell do there. And lets keep in mind that when the Army arrived in Baghdad, we, the television viewers, watched footage of a bunch of enraged and joyous Iraqis pulling down the statue of Saddam Hussein, their repulsive dictator, in Firdos Square. Only one thing was wrong. The event was staged. Taking down the statue was instigated by a Marine colonel, and a PSYOP (psychological operations) unit made it appear to be a spontaneous show of Iraqi joy. When we later saw the whole square, only 30 to 40 people were thereU.S. military people, press and some Iraqis. And a US tank pulled the statue down with a cable. We, the television viewers, saw the square being presented as though the people of Iraq had gone into a frenzy and spontaneously pulled down the statue. Fake images and claims have been a part of this fiasco from the beginning. We need to cut through all the smoke and mirrors and come up with an exit strategy, forthwith. The Democrats have yet to offer a cohesive plan to get us out of this mess. Of course, its not their faultbut the fact is we need leaders who are grown-ups and who are willing to try to fix it. Bush has ignored the actual grown-ups from the Iraq Study Group and the generals and all the other experts, who are nearly unanimous that more troops will not help. So, as I said, its up to you and me, Bubba. We need to make sure that the new Congress curbs executive power, which has been so misused, and asserts its own power to make this situation change. Now. http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0105-30.htm <http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0105-30.htm>
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