Dissident Veteran For Peace: Iraq War Will Worsen

Dissident Veteran For Peace

"I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America." —Alexis de Tocquevile. Democracy in America, Book I, Chapter XV.

With a nod to the Most Rev. Dom Helder Camara: When I support Palestinians some call me an 'anti-Semite', when I try to explain why I stand in solidarity with Palestinians they call me a Nazi.

"WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives." —Major General Smedley Butler, USMC (ret.)

"... no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end." —character of O'Brien in 1984, part 3, ch. 3 by George Orwell.

"Every prophet has realized that nobody loves you for being the enemy of their illusions. Every prophet has realized that most of us want peace at any price as long as the peace is ours and somebody else pays the price. That is why the prophet Jeremiah said, ' "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace,' ..." —The Rev. William Sloane Coffin. "Not to Bring Peace, But a Sword."

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Iraq War Will Worsen

This is from the "I hope I'm wrong file." Now that the Democrats will have a solid majority in the US House of Representatives and, probably, a razor-thin majority in the Senate, many people will look for the US to start pulling out of Iraq. The 2006 election is widely viewed as a referendum against the war and Rumsfeld is history. The Dems now have the power of the purse (US Const. Art. I, Sec. 7) and could force a US withdrawal but I expect US troop levels to increase in Iraq in the next two years and more Iraqis and Americans to die.

Here's why: Both parties are in the grips of the arms industry and the Israel Lobby. If anything, the Democrats are even more pro-Israel--albeit only slightly (think about the difference between 97% and 99%). Furthermore, when the new Congress is seated we will be less than two years away from the 2008 presidential election. Neither major party will want to go into that election shouldering the blame for losing the war or for a "cut and run" on Iraq. On the contrary, they will both want to claim credit for a "victory." So, look for a troop build up with "pacification" and "Iraqization" or, at best, "staying the course." These policies will fail, of course, but they are the likely outcome of the political necessities constraining both wings of the single war party.

Last revised: 11/19/2006

04 Sept. 2020 Addendum: Sadly, the Democrats lived down to my expectations. According to data from the Brookings Institution, there were 140,000 US troops in Iraq in November 2006. This increased to 162,000 in November 2007 and dropped to 148,000 in November 2008, a level still higher than in November 2006. Source: "Iraq Index: Tracking Variables of Reconstruction & Security in Post-Saddam Iraq". Jan. 31, 2011. p. 13.

Labels: Democrats, Iraq, Israel Lobby, politics, War, Zionism

# posted by PeaceMonger @ 11/08/2006 08:30:00 PM

Comments:

You have a great blog and have to agree with you about the democrats being mor pro-Israel even if slightly. I am going to add your link to my blog. Enjoy what you have to say.

# posted by