So why don't we Americans--"We the People"--bypass our representatives in congress and start giving the Iraqi people--all of them--the message that we know the war is wrong. That we disagree with the people in power who started the war and all the people who just let it go on. That we want to create a world where no one has to fear that their home will get blasted away. That we want to create a world where everyone can get a restful sleep at night. And wake up to the breakfast of their choice.

And once they start hearing our messages, then we are going to follow up with actions that prove our compassion, actions that show life is not about winning and losing, that there are enough resources on earth for all, that we will harness the sun and the wind and the ocean when the oil runs out. They're going to start believing that we Americans are not all self-centered and just watching out for ourselves, that we are watching out for all the people on earth, that we are going to start taking care of our planet instead of going after more and more just for ourselves.

There is much creativity and intelligence in America. Let's start using it for all the people of the world, and not just for ourselves.

COMarc-

I agree!

Who the @#$@# cares what Rove and his boot-licking minions are plotting or thinking.

There is no amount of flowery oratory that will allow them to slither their way out this plot.

Maat, Best Wishes and Hope
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk1vEuhBuEU

The very idea that Iraq is a war is a lie from the get go. That label already means you're buying in. This is an act of terror, which is very different from war. Please be careful how they move you to their belief little by little. Language is a slippery thing and shapes our thoughts none-the-less.

If impeachment gains support and moves forward the public has a chance to understand how wrong this act of terror is. Exposing the administration's fraudulent claims to the public is crucial. Without a strong push from the public to impeach Cheney and Bush, Congress will not respond as seen with Nixon's impeachment. This process gained momentum when the public put the pressure on.

Until the administration's lies are revealed as indisputable the unjustness of this act of terror will not be proven. Impeachment will prove the lie of blaming peace organizations for the disaster Bush has unleashed on Iraq and the United States. Peace organizations want peace. The minute that act of terror started it was doomed to failure. It was a lie that it was winnable. There is nothing to win in Iraq. If there is any war to win, it is here in the United States. Willie Nelson wants to send this response.
http://willienelsonpri.com/peace/48/a-peaceful-solution.html

Define LOST, Saddamn is dead, there are no WMDs in lraq, Oil profits are up, Government cronies are making fortunes, the Market is doing great, housing prices are leveling off, Islamic extemeist are killing more of each other than us, and all it cost us are a few young Rednecks and Boyz from the Hood who probably be just hanging out drinkin hooch or smokin crack and knockin up thier sisters or some nappy headed Ho anyway. Looks like a Win-Win to me.

The Germans started the stab in the back legend after they lsot World War One. Their other allies collapsed. The home front crumbled after years of shortages of food and basic items. The military had run the government for about two years in all but name. Their army was in France but retreating.

Wilson and the Allies insisted on accepting surrender from a democratic government instead of the generals. Democracy did not stand much of a chance from 1918-1933. Right wing groups, not just the Nazis, said they were stabbed in the back by the November criminals. After all, a democratic government signed the Versailles Treaty.

I heard a few people into the 1980s say that we did not stay in Vietnam long enough. One gentleman told me that the U.S. should have used nuclear weapons.

I am glad that someone is bring this up early on.

My brother cynically observed many years ago that the Vietnam War became immoral when it lasted too long. It may be the same this time too.

9/11 was an attack on the Bush Family and their base of fascist imperialists, something republicans are desperate to hide.

9/11 was THE wakeup call to all Americans to stop supporting bloodthirsty billionaires who would do to poor Americans what they have done to poor Muslims in Iraq in a heartbeat.

The republican greed has no boundaries. See Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling.

I agree with much of what you say, except about the media being more honorable years ago. They lied then (Vietnam) as they lie now. My objection to the article is that I don't think the system of which media lying is one part and war is another is going to be suddenly changed or removed by a particular shift in Democratic Party rhetoric or strategy.

For instance, the idea that the United States should dominate the world and make it safe for capitalism by whatever means may be necessary has been the prevailing theory of foreign, military and economic policy in Washington since the days of Woodrow Wilson and has not even been seriously questioned since the 1940s. That theory means the U.S. must fight incessant wars and police actions and maintain an empire of military bases all over the world, which is exactly what we observe. The Democrats are not prepared to change that. Most of them appear to believe in it.

alank: Thank you for such an eloquent, well thought out discussion. I heartily agree. If only our representatives still had souls, consciences and intelligence. Starry Gordon: I think populations are largely conditioned. Other writers on this site have spoken of the glory of WINNING, and that very concept is related to scores and sports. This is where many sports have become "the new opiate of the peoples." The conditioning is astounding. Another writer mentioned that the vast majority get their "news" from CNN or Fox or heaven help us, hate rightwing radio. Therefore the conditioning, the intellectual equivalent of feeding the masses shit, results in what the diet produces in return. People can wake up, they don't need generations of war to figure the truth out, IF they are given the truth. It's partly laziness, partly the fact many work longer hours (or 2 jobs) to keep up, and partly the fact that a lot of people still believe that truth and integrity are ON T.V. They presume the authorities (on TV) must know what they are saying. Media had more honor 20 years ago, but the great sell-out of elections, the media, and so many priceless things has taken place and left us with the lowest common denominator governing our senses and treasury. This, the price of worship of mammon.

The authors and many of those who have commented desire a fundamental change in the opinions, indeed, the culture, of the American people. Such changes are not brought about by this or that clever political move. Indeed, going by European examples, it took several ruinous wars to convince the Germans and the French that war was not a really good thing, and the British still haven't learned the lesson. Vietnam does not seem to have taught the American people anything; they mostly supported the invasion of Iraq. So why do you think this or that bit of rhetoric on the part of the Democrats is now going to bring about the profound change needed overnight?

And so the US continues to kill because those who have the power to stop it and won an election on the basis that they woudl do so will not stop it because of what otheres may say of them? Just imagine if Jefferson/Franklin/Lincoln had used the same logic.
All that we outside the US (who will suffer because of the arrogant vicious and ignorant behaviour of teh United States under Bush and have no say in who leads the US) can see is that the people the US elects are either deliberately vicious (Bush) or do not really have the honest intention of stopping him from doing more harm (the Democrat dominated Congress - if they were serious about stopping it they woudl impeach Bush/Cheney so that the US could see what was really at stake rather than fiddling with ineffectual actions which, because they know Bush can stymie them by vetoing them,are just token actions). In other words, the people the US elects (whether President or Congress) are all pretty low in moral or legal sensitivity - in other words, pretty contemptible.
It seems that the concept of doing something because it is right just does not occur to them - if the possibility of a stab in the back accusation is stopping them.
And, in the long term those who opposed Vietnam were proved correct anyway

The authors hit the nail on the head.

Nearly all Dems, even when in high "antiwar" mode (re-deploy, benchmarks, deadlines, better strategy, etc.) miss the main point which is the illegality, immorality, and impropriety of the war.

That they might well be in danger of "losing the argument" to the Republicans is ludicrous -- but predictable.

This should be so simple. A slam-dunk, really. If the Democrats really were who many out there might like to believe they were, their leadership would get up on their now-Nearly-Bully-Pulpits and say EVERY DAY:

This Administration is out of control. They have failed the nation in a number of vital ways, even as they attack and destroy the hard-won underlying structures of our liberties and social services that reflect generations of American thinking, efforts, and sacrifice.

ONE:
The one group in this nation that does not support our troops -- is this Administration and its minions.
They use and abuse our men and women in uniform, sending them into unnecessary conflict, ill-preparing them materially, with insufficient training, and through extended tours, and then bringing home the maimed and wounded to underfunded, understaffed and poorly maintained services and facilities. Yet they blame everyone else.
So no one should accept the label of "not supporting the troops" from the very people who put our troops in harm's way with little or no planning and without adequate verifiable evidence for a true casus belli.

TWO:
This Administration is hardly the one to talk about our security. The "surprise" of 911, the ill-prepared responders, the lack of a NORAD response are clear examples. Katrina only further showed their inability to either plan or act. They have one answer to both war and Katrina: privatize our responders, and disregard the results.

This nation cannot afford any longer to rely upon this group for security decisions. They have plenty of rhetoric, but no track record. Americans have called for others to handle security.

THREE:
There is ample evidence that the reasons for this war were manufactured and intelligence either flawed, disregarded or altered. These questions must be answered: why and how this may have happened, and who has materially benefitted from the attacks and occupation?

FOUR:
Why do war funds come from the cutting of vital social services while tax cuts are being legislated for the wealthiest in the nation?

By asserting these positions, Congressional Democrats could gain further confidence that they indeed can move us in a new path.

On the other hand, if the Democrats do not boldly make such (true) assertions, they may well fall into the trap described in the article.

But don't hold your breath, as triangulation seems to be more important than truth.

Where is the discussion of the 14 bases and the enormous embassy that Bush-CheyneyCo have been building as Baghdad burns? Who in this Congress will go there? Only there will we really find out why Americans and Iraqis are dying at this rate. And why our tax dollars pay for private mercenaries.

Pundits and so-called journalists alike debate endlessly which tactic will work and how can we achieve success. "Success" as we are tired of knowing has never been defined -- out loud in public, at least.

The Dems know as well as most of us who read these articles that it only all makes sense when we understand that THE Plan (and thus THE definition of success) is unmentionable in public but available online: it is Rebuilding America's Defenses, the strategy of the Project of the New American Century.

Read this, and suddenly, it all makes sense. It is why we are there, and why they want us to stay, disguised by whatever pretense. Iraq is merely the first stepping-stone to regional resource control, and was the easiest war to sell because of the tyrant everyone loves to hate, Saddam, OUR tyrant.

To our dismay and consternation, This has been largely unmentioned and unmentionable by knowledgeable Democrats who had to know, if any of us knows. That is why, in the long run, we cannot rely upon the Democratic Party to be open and honest enough with the American people to provide any real or long-term solutions. Nor, as we have seen, will they warn us of, or prepare us to resist, even the most dire of domestic attacks on our democracy.

The scenario is a bitter one, but a real one -- and we made it, or allowed it to happen.

The Dems have no reason to go much beyond mild rebukes to this Administration: they perceive their electoral success as being tied in with those funding sources who do not want to rock the boat.

To say democracy is only an afterthought in this game would be quite optimistic.

The people have to find new ways to tell the Democrats in Congress that they had better be forthcoming with truth and start acting as though they actually represented us, the citizens.

With the "lesser of two evils" manacle in place, they know they've got us. "What will you do, vote for Republicans?" they laugh.

Somehow this must change.

Opponents of this war and this war mentality can and must use all tools available to them: dissent, protest, rallies, community organizing, letters to newspapers and Congress, radio call-ins, and so on.

But one other tool, perhaps the one which will most quickly produce change in this Congress is to switch your registration!! Don't go Independent or Republican, because that will achieve little, if anything. Switch to Green Party, for that not only says you want them to know you have their number, but it places you in clearly meaningful political position: the Green Party officially calls for an end to this occupation, and for the impeachment of both Bush and Cheney.

Your switching to Green registration places you in that clearly definable constituency that demands accountability and truth: on the war, war profiteering, the attacks on our civil liberties, the attacks on our votes. It also says you want universal healthcare, you support women's rights and labor rights. That new registration is like getting an Extra Election Day for free! It says all of those things most candidates you vote for will not. So, "vote" with your registration.

Producing a large switch in registration to Green Party will put this Congress on notice and at the same time tell them what your position is.

Building a party whose voice is clear and unequivocal on issues of REAL security (housing, education, healthcare, building relations with allies, dialog with others) is beneficial to both the national dialog and outcome.

Far from being harmful, it is exceedingly healthy. Grow your voice by growing a Party that says what is in your heart and mind. Do not be intimidated any longer. You can always vote for whomever you want. Elect Greens where you can. Greens in the race mean your voice is heard.

We cannot continue to rely on the "goodwill" of Democrats whose sometimes pleasing rhetoric is really anchored in their central leadership's ties and dependency on the corporate feedbag and agenda.

Oh, they will let a Dennis Kucinich stand up and take a bow now and then. Howard Dean went too far and look what happened to him. They will bank on your support and vote no matter what they actually do, so do you think they are listening to progressives -- really? They'll smile, take your money, take your vote, and -- once again -- take YOU for GRANTED; then they go on to please the corporate paymaster.

Aren't you tired of this?

Put the Dems on notice: no more phony politics, no more hidden agendas, no more enabling of those dead set to destroy democracy. If you take just that one step to the side -- the one they are not expecting -- and register with a party that stands for what you stand for, they will get the message. It may be the only way.

Making your pro-democracy anti-war positions clear is the best way to strengthen progressive candidates of all stripes and to make their (and our) voices distinct and loud. Those Green registration numbers give candidates arguments (and statistics) they otherwise would not have. It is a way to give leverage to progressive thinking which is now nearly always ignored.

You can see more about this logic and strategy at switch2green.org. Switching to Green can be a really good political move. Besides, it will make you feel much more coherent.

CoMarc has it correct. The Democrats need to stand up and attack back with every fiber in their bodies. However, they will not do that. I have been convinced for a long time the reason is the Democratic Leadership Council which is the soft under belly of the Democrats but unfortunately calling the shots. They even keep a Republican on the payroll as "spokesperson." How stupid can you be?
They pander to a "center" that does not exist and shamefully pick up scraps from corporate America's table. If they don't show tough leadership and tough opposition in the next year and a half, they are finished as a party. They should not give the Republicans an opportunity to control the dialogue--especially about the Iraq war.

Part of the blame for the mess we are in is because of our own selfish, me first, and only me mentality. People thought the peaceful, deferred gratification agenda of Jimmy Carter was not glamorous right then. So they discounted his forward thinking ideas of environmental and energy plans and talking instead of killing. And now after two decades of neocon motivated manipulation of our selfish dumbed down public, we have to spend another two or three generations repairing the damage if it can be done at this point. Equating the Democratic party to the Repubs just plays into the manipulators hands. It also reflects that instant gratification mantra that Rove has played so well. To say that because one party has to use the system that is in place to regain some power and therefore invalidates the Dems, is dumbed down, instant gratification, sheep herded, Joe public mentality. The neocons have this figured out. We have to retain a toehold on the vestiges of goodness in progressive thought using the system in place until we can slowly change our future to a more hopeful one, a progressive one.

Stop and think and read and write. Once you get smarter, no one can make you stpid again, (unless they send you somewhere for extraordinary rendition). Start to wise up that three word dumbed down slogans telling us what to think are not the correct framework with which to define the debates about the future of our world. For example, "Shock and Awe" told us what to think about the invation of Iraq. "Cut and Run" is not an indepth assessment of opposing viewpoints. It is now " dems defeatists". While stupid americans are distracted and whine about the price of gas to fill their SUVs. I was smart enough not to buy one because I cared about gas milage before caring about gas milage was cool. So quit blaming those brave few who are trying to think long term but use the corrupt system to get started in the fight for liberty as best they can. It is easy to not blame ones self and popular to do so. Well take off your hip boots, grit your teeth, hold your nose and try to swim knowing it must still momentarily be with the strong current until you can grab a branch. Hoist yourself to shore, contemplate how you almost drowned and plan a better strategy. You won't change the power of the river and get your way all at once. You must be thoughtful, patient, devoted, willing to defer glory and willing to rethink the propoganda as you reducate yourself. Quit wanting everything now. Get started saving this country by saving yourself from ignorance.

It amazes me that an administration that has failed as badly as this has with respect to every challenge it has face, and a party that has goostepped merrily along to each diktat emanating from the White House, could have any credibility with the American people. How is it possible that they are still framing the debate, still cowing the Democrats into submission, still wielding this kind of power?

I have two theories about why the Democrats cannot speak the simple truth about this disastrous war:

1) It is so disastrous, so destructive, so uncomprehensibly violent and so impossible to strategize a policy that would allow for any kind of "graceful" exit, that politicians can't face it. Nobody can. It's that bad.
2) Most Americans, you know, the ones who don't read Common Dreams, believe the lies, believe in American exceptionalism, believe that we are entitled to bomb and kill whoever we want, that we are entitled to every resource we want wherever it is, that we have the right to torture, that only "we" matter. That is why it is pointless to condemn the war on moral grounds. Americans are only upset that we are not "winning."

The solution: Give each Iraqi an equal share of their oil stock and leave.

Run that one by the Repugs and watch them try to spin their way out of it.

At some point, we need to just stop giving a damn what the other side is going to say. I continuously seem to watch the Democrats tie themselves up in knots over arguments that basically say "oh, if we do this then the Republicans will attack us saying that". Who the @#$@# cares?

The politics of this is basic. A huge majority of the American people think this war was a mistake from the beginning and that we should get out now. Heck, over a majority thinks that if Bush lied to start the war (he did!), then he should be impeached for it.

So, the Democrats and the Progressives should be absolutely overjoyed and thrilled that even after this war ends the Republicans would want to even bring this up. When they do bring it up, it should be met with a thunderous broadside attacking everything from the origiinal lies that justified the war, to the mistakes in how the war was conducted, to the long delay in getting out and all the troops who are being killed and wounded while we delay getting out. And we can go on to continue to talk about how disasterous this war has been to the US standing in the rest of the world and in particular in the Middle East.

If the Republicans want to bring this up, then our eyes should light up and we should have a look of positive glee on our faces as we take that opening to just absolutely clobber these fools.

Of course, that assumes that Democrats aren't timid little mice who try to hide in the corner all the time.

Basically, the old sports saying applies here. The best defense is a good offense. We should be constantly beating the Republicans over the head with Iraq and this gawd-awful war to the point where the one thing the Republicans want to do desperately is to change the topic. We should beat them over the head with this so hard and so often that the last thing in the world the Republicans would want would be to raise this topic again with "stab in the back" bs.

And beside which, there;s another huge problem with this line of what passes for Democratic reasoning. I'm sick and freakin tired of constantly hearing everything debated in terms of what's good for the Democrats. These bozos aren't elected to just do what's good for their party. They are elected to do what's best for the nation as a whole. If that means getting our butts out of this illegal, immoral and disaterous war, then they should just plain have the guts to do what's best for the nation and take any heat that comes with it.

These weak, spineless, timid mice that pass for Democratic party politicians might actually find out that the American people actually like having leaders who stand up and make tough decisions and stand by them. The weakness in the image of the Democratic Party for ages now has been the constant appearence that they always just go by the latest poll\focus group and don't really stand for anything.

For all of these reasons, the best dang thing that could happen to the party is that they take the tough course of getting us out NOW (not some bs, loophole ridden "goal" of maybe, kinda-sorta, getting some but not nearly all of our troops out at some vague date set more to the election calendar). Then stand up and vigorously debate this whole thing with any Republican with the guts to take on 70% of the American people on this issue.

Then, maybe the Democratic Party might actually be seen as something other than a weak, sniveling bunch who care much more about thier own slimy political careers instead of what's good for the country.

No one cares anymore who "lost" Iraq. They just want out. Bush's approval rating is down to 28% and is bound to sink even more. As soon as Monica Goodling testifies before Congress, it's not only bye bye Alberto, but bye bye Karl Rove. There is no point in being afraid of the Repugs anymore. They are on the run and they only thing they have to look forward to is a presidential pardon.

Mr. Butterfield
Ex-mayor of my city, Rudy Giuliani, one of the most corrupt politicians of all time (see Bernard Kerik), is now trying to blame 9/11 on the Democrats! How convenient to forget that George W. was in office at the time and our current Secretary of State disregarded intelligence. Who got us into Iraq, indeed, and who wants to keep us there?

Who got us in to Iraq?

The real "loser" of this ill-begotten war is the entire trumped-up premise upon which we sought to bomb, violate, and occupy the cradle of modern civilization. Therefore, not only has the US lost the war, but has made everyone else lose as well.

The mentality of "win and lose" is tiresome at best. At worst, it produces the football mentality and Monday-morning quarterbacking about events in which spectators see themselves as separate from spectacle, a perverse consciousness as was the case with the Romans fulfilling their bloodlust by watching one human after the other destroyed at the Circus Maximus.

The real losers of this war will be the next several generations of Americans, all because this generation of Americans allowed our freedoms to be dismantled not by those who attacked the World Trade Center from without, but those who caused our checks and balances to implode from within.

www.raycarlson.com for more connecting of the dots...

gin: right on. Problem is the COST to run for election, and the fact that under Clinton (one of the decisions that made Michael Moore provide him with the designation, "best Republican president") the FCC deregulated the media, and allowed the present broadcast companies to USE the digital highways... which ultimately belong to all citizens. Had the deal been done in such a way as to demand a return on this incredibly value investment (a virtual frontier), it might have translated to available FREE (or low cost) air time for those candidates running for office. The statistics of money spent with repect to getting elected are obscenely high. Gotta pay to play and then you owe those who own you. NOT a democratic way to play the game of representation of THE people.

All the dems need to do is keep saying Bush was a failure--worst president in history and started a war he couldnt finish.

Just keep repeating it--as its a message anyone can believe.

The truth would set us free. I believe this is why impeachment is off the table. Done right the investigations leading up to impeachments would be an educational experience for we the people- reacquainting us with our founding documents and the rule of law. We the people could become so empowered by these events that at least 500 of our 535 stalwart reps would never be reelected and quite a few would be looking at jail time. Many of us might shake off the decades of corporate psyops we've been subjected to and start thinking for ourselves.
The people might unite to form a more perfect union. Yup, no good could come from something like that.
P.S. The war against Iraq was a noble cause-a pet cause of our nobles-today's Robber Barons.

Haven't Republicans proved beyond any doubt that they have absolutely no idea what they are doing with regard to foreign policy? Haven't they demonstrated beyond any question that they have no understanding of world affairs and no ability to predict what will happen or to fashion policies to alter the world in ways that they desire?

The Democrats and progressives need to just remind the electorate of this, over and over, and then ignore the Republican noise altogether.

I gave up on the "spinelessness", or "weakness" arguments for the democrats' behavior long ago. The democrats represent exactly the same interests as the republicans. Their apprently odd behavior is just a result of them putting on an act of being an opposition party, but their costumes are ill-fitting and their masks keep slipping off.

"The real losers of this war will be the next several generations of Americans"

What about the million dead Iraqis and millons of penniless Iraqi refugees?

But I agree this "win" and "lose" crap is nonsense. A crime is a crime - it is not won or lost, whatever that would mean.

Well, the Democrats may have started the Vietnam police action anyway -- a sizeable number of scholars view the Tonkin Incident as a false event to justify the war under LBJ's watch.

Who gives a rip what the Rethugs blame with regard to Iraq? Bush obviously is losing the war, our democracy, economy and what little exists of our national standing abroad at the same. The question isn't who lost Iraq -- that much is already clear. The question is who saves our own Republic. If the Dems don't pull their tail out from under their legs sometime soon, they'll need to step aside for a third party to do what needs to be done.

key89,

A "win" for the crowd that started it is a successful robbery. A "loss" is an unsuccessful robbery. It's all good for Cheney with his Halliburton connection, it was a guaranteed "win" for him from the beginning (robbing US taxpayers if not the Iraqis). And most defense contractors will cry about a "loss" all the way to the bank. For some other members of the criminal conspiracy, e.g. most large US oil companies, it has not been determined yet as to whether the robbery will be successful or not.

JP--ya'll got it in one:

"That is why it is pointless to condemn the war on moral grounds. Americans are only upset that we are not "winning.""

We've been blaming segments of our population for the failure of our bullshit conquests since I was born '49. "Who Lost China?"; "Who lost Korea?"; "Who Lost Vietnam?"; "Who Lost Iraq?".

Then the rats who made billions from the blood of our sacrificed children rub their hands in glee while they pick their next target and pull the strings of the illiterate peasants so they will give their children for yet another conquest in some god forsaken desert, jungle, or town. Of course they will find scapegoats for their failures, they always do. Maybe we'll get to burn the scapegoats alive and put it all on cable, great for the ratings.

"AMERICA #1" - #1 Purveyor of Violence in the World. It was true before MLK was assassinated by agents of our government 40 years ago, it is even truer today.

America is going to bleed over this one JP, big time. With a spot of luck it will bankrupt our entire Empire and we can get back to living like human beings in the 21st Century and not groveling subjects of a psychotic Ruling Class.

Never forget, this war is of, by, and for our Ruling Class so that they may suck the marrow from our bones, that's all, just another war, it's their job. You want to stop the bleeding and end our wars of conquest - annhilate our Ruling Class - RESTORE THE ROOSEVELT LEGACY OF TAXATION, LABOR SUPPORT, AND CORPORATE REGULATION. That's it, simple.

Peace.