The elephant in the Senate

The Senate has missed the point again. For the last several days they have wasted their time debating the terms of the debate, rather than just having the debate itself, over the question of censuring or condemning the president’s escalation ("surge") of troops into Iraq. On the one hand we have the Republicans obfuscating (in other words, dragging their feet) with legal double talk whether Congress has the Constitutional authority to cut off funding for the Iraq war with the Greg amendment (which they do, as was seen in the revocation of funding for the Vietnam war in October of 1973), and the Democrats calling for a pitiful "resolution" to condemn the escalation.

Talk about your red herrings. Mixing metaphors, what both sides have missed is the elephant in the living room: the American public wants us out of Iraq now and to hell with the consequences. They don’t want ifs, ands, or buts, and they certainly don’t want a debate about some weak-kneed resolution which the president has gone on record as stating he will ignore in any case.

For some obscure reason, the Democratic senators have gotten it into their heads they were elected to a controlling majority to, I don’t know, fix the budget or patch up Social Security or something, anything but what they were actually elected to do, which is get us out of Iraq now rather than later, to hell with what the president "decides."

Americans aren’t asking for a debate about funding for the troops, or handwaving shows of patriotic support, and certainly don’t care about senators’ political sweating reelection prospects. Further, Americans are not persuaded that our troops leaving Iraq will cause a "catastrophe" in the form of a major civil war because they are already convinced that the catastrophe is here and now, and they don’t give a hoot about any future civil war in Iraq. For most people, it is well past time for arguments, strategy deliberations and troop escalation.

With over 3,100 dead American troops and over 80,000 paraplegics and mentally broken veterans, nearly a trillion dollars wasted with nothing to see as positive results, Americans have had their debate and cast their votes accordingly.

Of course, all this brouhaha would be avoided if we just haul off and impeach Bush and Cheney, as they so richly deserve. After they are safely incarcerated in Leavenworth we might then have a reasonable debate about what do with the Middle East, but right now the American people have had their say and they say quit talking and bring the troops home now.