3/5 of House Dems "Obsessed" With Afghan Withdrawal Timetable
Saturday 03 July 2010
by: Robert Naiman, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
(Photo: Nichelle Anderson / U.S. Air Force)
"Obsession" isn't just "a fragrance for men." According to our Commander-in-Chief, "obsession" now also characterizes the widespread interest in the timeline for bringing home 100,000 American boys and girls safely from Afghanistan so they can grow old with their sweethearts and lead economically productive lives, rather than becoming Pentagon statistics or lifelong burdens on their family members and the public purse.
President Obama said there's "a lot of obsession" about the withdrawal date for US troops from Afghanistan, the AP reported Sunday.
This "obsession" has so afflicted the body politic that Thursday night, three-fifths of the Democrats in the US House of Representatives voted for an amendment on the war supplemental that not only tried to lock in the July 2011 timetable for the beginning of the drawdown that President Obama promised last year, but also would have required the president to establish a timetable for the completion of the drawdown.
Are some of us "obsessed" with a withdrawal timetable for US forces from Afghanistan? Damn straight we are. Advocacy of a withdrawal timetable is the principal means by which Americans outside of the military can act politically to protect the lives of our fellow citizens who are being deployed. Every day by which we can shorten the war is a day on which our fellow citizens won't have the opportunity to be blown up in Afghanistan.
And as for the people of Afghanistan, the withdrawal timetable is our ticket to freedom from having the same relationship with Pashtun residents of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan as the Israeli army has with Palestinian residents of Hebron in the southern West Bank. The withdrawal timetable is the little patch of blue that we prisoners call the sky.
The group of Americans afflicted by this "obsession" is surely going to continue to grow in numbers and influence. The 162 who voted for a timetable for withdrawal yesterday represented almost a 20% increase over those who voted for an exit strategy last June. The three-fifths of the Democratic caucus in the House who voted for a timetable for withdrawal yesterday featured many members of the Democratic leadership, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who usually doesn't vote on the floor (her statement backing her vote for the amendment is here), David Obey, chair of Appropriations, who co-sponsored the amendment; John Larson, chair of the Democratic Caucus; Chris Van Hollen, assistant to the Speaker; George Miller, chair of Education and Labor; Barney Frank, chair of Financial Services; and Henry Waxman, chair of Energy and Commerce.
And crucially, important Democratic players have begun to violate the Washington consensus that pretended that war spending had nothing to do with unmet domestic needs. David Obey tied funding for teacher's jobs to the war supplemental, and labor unions, by insisting on money for teachers in the House bill, have helped to jam up Congressional approval of the war money. MoveOn called out House Republican leader John Boehner for suggesting that we should cut Social Security benefits -- including raising the normal retirement age to 70 -- while saying no limit can be placed on war spending. And Speaker Pelosi told the Huffington Post:
It just can't be that we have a domestic agenda that is half the size of the defense budget... in terms of the war now in Afghanistan, which is a growing part of it... we have to say how can we carry this and can we carry this on the backs of children's nutrition.
Once the artificial wall between consideration of war spending and consideration of domestic spending is thoroughly breached, every Republican, Wall Street and corporate Democratic attack on Social Security and on spending to support domestic employment under the guise of "deficit reduction" is likely to provoke a counterattack from important Democratic players on war spending and the Pentagon budget. That's going to drive even more Democrats and Independents into the "timetable for withdrawal" camp.
Time is running out on the Obama administration's ability to maintain politically a large-scale deployment of US troops in Afghanistan. Even solely from the point of view of its own narrow self-interest, the administration should get busy pursuing serious peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, because there's no reason to expect that the administration's leverage in the future will be any greater than its leverage today.
This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Comments
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"... bringing home 100,000
Sat, 07/03/2010 - 09:50 — bogglesthemind (not verified)"... bringing home 100,000 American boys and girls safely from Afghanistan so they can grow old with their sweethearts and lead economically productive lives, ..."
Unfortunately "economically productive lives" is no longer on the menu. Flipping burgers might be a good alternative, at least you won't starve.
Next...
If "Obsessed" Then Impeach
Sat, 07/03/2010 - 13:04 — Bill O'Rights (not verified)If "Obsessed" Then Impeach O, the candidate who promised to "finish the war on terror" during his campaign, with so many groupies interpreting those words to mean 'get out of the mid-east and stop being war mongers'. This administration has violated the letter and spirit of the Constitution so many times that it's hard to choose which grounds to prosecute - the problem is that Congress are also as corrupt - Left and Right alike - it's a big obvious fraud. Passivity is the kiss of death for us. Time to get off our frightened butts and do our civic duties by applying large pressure and often to our reps - they are accustomed to input from .o1% of their constituency - this is why you really can make a difference with a well worded phone call (be careful because our tyrannical govt has now passed a law that will put you in jail for 'harassing' your reps with unkind words - another sign of a rapidly disintegrating representative govt. We have to put it back together ourselves, no one else will. Get up off the floor - start with the Bill of Rights - read it, it's really pretty damned good and is actually moving if you have any understanding of how it came about and what it means for us all as a people.
Obsessed, but too DEM
Sat, 07/03/2010 - 13:38 — Vic Anderson (not verified)Obsessed, but too DEM abscessed to do anything but bray about the CO$T they continue contributing to!
My contention which is based
Sat, 07/03/2010 - 13:51 — Anonymous (not verified)My contention which is based on the Bill of Rights, as well as our Constitution, is that we have every right and reason to 'talk back' to any and all of our Representatives and Senators. After all, we are the ones that Sent them 'up there' to do the will of the people...not to line their pockets and mouth platitudes. WE have the responsibility to hold them all to what they promised before they were elected. We all have that Right, and I damn well will exercise that Right as long as I am granted breath. As long as they persist in ignoring the job that they Promised to do, then we owe them no respect other than civility..no matter if they deserve even that.
A Year from now is a year too long for this war of aggression to go on. It must end Now and all of our Military must come home. I am sure that they will all prefer to be flipping hamburgers to earn their food than to be pushing up daisies in that God Forsaken Land where they are hated. And with reason. They deserve to live...the ones that Sent them there do not.
Will anyone send DICK/Bush
Sat, 07/03/2010 - 14:16 — Anonymous (not verified)Will anyone send DICK/Bush and Co. the bill for this folly? "You are either with us, or you are with the terrorists"! Weren't they terrorists that terrorized millions of families in the US by taking their sons and daughters to unnecessary wars so they could divert attention from the dot.com bust (and criminal investigations) to a manufactured lie? Will the people ever get their power back from the agents of Corporate America?
If we want to get out of
Sat, 07/03/2010 - 15:07 — Anonymous (not verified)If we want to get out of Afghanistan, we should split it up amongst its ethnic groups and let them unite with others of their ethnicity across the border. For example, the 8 million Tajiks in Afghanistan can join Tajikistan across the border, etc. Afghanistan does not have a long history of being a country anyway, and there's no point trying to hold it together.
Our President is clearly
Sat, 07/03/2010 - 16:01 — Liced-christ (not verified)Our President is clearly obsessed with prolonged, that is, infinitely prolonged, war strategies. "Change we can believe in?" Hardly.
And to think, ALL of this
Sat, 07/03/2010 - 16:06 — Brian (not verified)And to think, ALL of this insanity started with 9/11, yet very few are willing to question the official story.
Point taken, Brian. There
Sat, 07/03/2010 - 19:32 — Bedford Forrest (not verified)Point taken, Brian. There was never a Congressional Investigation of the attacks on the WTC or the Pentagon. What about the Black Boxes? What ever happened to them? Were they considered that they were "National Security" and have been tucked away for 50 years? Check out North Tower Exploding on You Tub. This tower in the 5+ minute clip is NOT one of the towers hit by the airliners.
Think about it.
I Like that: We're obsessed
Sat, 07/03/2010 - 19:54 — january37 (not verified)I Like that: We're obsessed -- Damn Straight!
There is also the issue of
Sat, 07/03/2010 - 22:18 — Reverend Unruh (not verified)There is also the issue of uranium munitions.
our military is spending
Sat, 07/03/2010 - 23:01 — anotherwiseguy (not verified)our military is spending tax-dollars at a rate of almost $500M/day and the outlook gets worse there and at home.
bring them all home so they can live in tent-cities and eat toxic fish and gripe on facebook about being jobless while the bank execs figure out another way to profit from the financial cesspool they have pushed us into.
We have met the enemy...
War serves the purpose of
Sun, 07/04/2010 - 02:15 — Anonymous (not verified)War serves the purpose of lowering the population count and unemployment statistics?
Count me as one obsessed,
Sun, 07/04/2010 - 07:19 — Anonymous (not verified)Count me as one obsessed, too. "Are some of us "obsessed" with a withdrawal timetable for US forces from Afghanistan? Damn straight we are."
Have been since 2001.
Join the War Resisters League.
Remember Ron Paul promised
Sun, 07/04/2010 - 09:44 — Anonymous (not verified)Remember Ron Paul promised to bring home ALL our soldiers? Please use the term "soldiers" as opposed to "troops". The term troops tends to depersonalize our children fighting in a war of choice, not necessity. I just listened to Lindsey Graham spout nonsense about "winning" in Afghanistan. He never mentioned what that would entail. Does anyone know? Bringing home the soldiers from the 1000 foreign bases around the world and putting them to work in new industries constructing renewable energy for EVERYONE might be a good start to real, not bogus, change. It is a far cry from what we're actually getting from the policies of St. Obama.
If only all of us could
Sun, 07/04/2010 - 18:48 — Anonymous (not verified)If only all of us could convince the ignorant Americanthat all the above issues our peace organizations have been telling us in word,text,blogs,
Move=On, and other knowing and telling individuals,
then the U.S. could throw Obama out and make him
live up to his campaign promises. He really fooled me
by saying he would bring the men and women home, and I voted for him, never dreaming th at he would
follow tehe leader George Bush to the tee. What can we do but all march on Washington on t he same day on
some decided upon future date, call on the media who
are making money OFF THE war, OR JUST VEGETATING IN LIFE WITH NO REAL GOALS IN MIND? -- and go DOOR to door WALKINGTHE MANY BLOCKS TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES BULDINGS AND THE OFFICES OF THE SENATE IN ITS OWN HOUSE, BY STAYING FOR AN EXTENDED TIME IN YOUR OWN CHEAP HOTEL OF BY STAYING IN OUR OWN SMALL DORM ROOMS SUCH AS CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OR THE LUTHERAN DORMITORIES. MAKE Y OUR OWN PREARRANGED APPOINTMENTS AND CONFRONT THE LAWMAKERS SO T HAT THEY CAN 'T HIDE AND AVOID YOU. AND BACK UP YOUR OWNAPPOINTMENTS WITH THOSE OF YOUR FRIENDS SO THAT THE CONGRESS CAN'T MAKE
EXCUSES FOR NOT SEEING YOU BY DISAPPEARING AT THE LAST MOMENT. LINE UP1
YOU WILL MEET SOME INTERESTING PEOPLE AT
THE LINEUPS TO THE SENATE OFFICES. EAT LUNCH AT THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OR
SENATE CAFETERIA. YOU WON'TSEE YOUR LAW
MAKERS THERE, BUT YOU WILL SEE PEOPLE FROM
YOUR OWN STATE AND DISTANT STATES WHO WILL JOIN YOU AND CONFRONT OUR ELECTED
PEOPLE WHO ARE REALLY AGAINST US IN MOST
INSTANCES.
AVOID YOU.
Unfortunately, we cannot
Tue, 07/06/2010 - 22:56 — rjt (not verified)Unfortunately, we cannot trust the democrats anymore than the republicans. Unlike the republicans, the democrats have become masters at talking the good fight, but when it’s time to take action they cave and sell out to corporate interests every time.
For example, the watered down credit card law, health care law, financial reform bill and the upcoming environmental bill. Democrats are good at voting for amendments that they know will not pass to mislead their supporters, such as the military spending cuts.
Obama started selling out to his corporate overlords as soon as he won the democratic primary (e.g. voting for retroactive immunity for telecoms illegally spying on Americans and the Wall Street Bailout). Once in office he continued the policies of Bush and reneged on almost all of his campaign promises.
We have a corporatist government bilking Americans out of trillions for bailouts, corporate tax breaks, tax cuts for the wealthy, fossil fuel and nuclear energy subsidies, phony wars and outsourcing incentives to name a few. Thanks to corporate lackeys like Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II and Obama.
George Orwell's fictional account (1984) of endless war and big brother spying on everyone has become a reality, while Americans were being brain washed into submission by the corporate media and its corporate sponsors.
After everything is said and done, there is always money for war and corporate greed, but never for those in need.