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"The President Has Effectively Gone AWOL"
George Bush, the most ideologically-driven and politically calculating president in American history, wants Americans to believe that he has suddenly discovered a moral high ground from which to make grand declarations about who he must maintain the occupation of Iraq.
After vetoing legislation Tuesday that gave him the money to continue his war but required that he accept loose limits of its ultimate duration, the president told the nation, "I recognize that many Democrats saw this bill as an opportunity to make a political statement about their opposition to the war. They sent their message, and now it is time to put politics behind us and support our troops with the funds they need."
Bush has made his position clear: Democrats, many of whom rightly argued four years ago that going to war in Iraq would be the huge mistake it has turned out to be, and who have since been far ahead of the White House in identifying the nature of the crisis that has since developed, are now to be dismissed as the players of political games when they advocate for a strategy that would begin bringing US troops home from the conflict on a schedule beginning October 1.
That's a remarkable line of analysis from a president whose inability to recognize the flaws in his own neo-conservative vision has rendered his wrong at every turn, and whose determination to play politics with life-and-death decisions has defined not just his approach to the Iraq war but his tenure as president.
Yet Bush is not giving up on his faith that he can frame the argument about Iraq as a fight between Congressional Democrats who are out to score political points and a presidential administration that is motivated merely by a desire to respond appropriately to practical realities on the ground in Iraq.
"Twelve weeks ago, I asked the Congress to pass an emergency war spending bill that would provide our brave men and women in uniform with the funds and flexibility they need," said Bush in framing his veto message. "Instead, members of the House and the Senate passed a bill that substitutes the opinions of politicians for the judgment of our military commanders."
The problem with Bush's "I'm-so-above-politics" line is that he has been disregarding advice from military commanders since before the war began.
Consider the response to his veto from top military men who commanded troops in Iraq.
"The President vetoed our troops and the American people," says retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste. "His stubborn commitment to a failed strategy in Iraq is incomprehensible. He committed our great military to a failed strategy in violation of basic principles of war. His failure to mobilize the nation to defeat world wide Islamic extremism is tragic. We deserve more from our commander-in-chief and his administration."
Retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton: "This administration and the previously Republican-controlled legislature have been the most caustic agents against America's Armed Forces in memory. Less than a year ago, the Republicans imposed great hardship on the Army and Marine Corps by their failure to pass a necessary funding language. This time, the President of the United States is holding our Soldiers hostage to his ego. More than ever [it is] apparent [that] only the Army and the Marine Corps are at war -- alone, without their President's support."
Retired military commanders associated with the Washington-based National Security Network have been blunt about their sense that Bush is not just wrong about Iraq but that he is failing the troops he purports to support.
Some make historical comparisons.
Says retired Lt. Gen. Robert Gard: "With this veto, the president has doomed us to repeating a terrible history. President Bush's current position is hauntingly reminiscent of March 1968 in Vietnam. At that time, both the Secretary of Defense and the President had recognized that the war could not be won militarily--just as our military commanders in Iraq have acknowledged. But not wanting to be tainted with losing a war, President Johnson authorized a surge of 25,000 troops. At that point, there had been 24,000 U.S. troops killed in action. Five years later, when the withdrawal of US troops was complete, we had suffered 34,000 additional combat deaths.
Others offer a straightforward assessment of Bush's failure as the commander-in-chief. "By vetoing this bill and failing to initiate an immediate and phased withdrawal, the President has effectively gone AWOL, deserting his duty post, leaving American forces with an impossible mission, suffering wholly unnecessary casualties," argues retired Lt. Gen. William E. Odom.
Add the public statements of the retired generals together with the behind-the-scenes expressions of frustration from current commanders and they form the most powerful tool that Congressional Democrats have in what will ultimately be a negotiation not with Bush but with the American people--a negotiation that, the president well understands, is about the question of which side is playing politics and which side is listening to military commanders and supporting the troops.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid should take the message of these retired generals--along with the anti-war statements of thousands of current and returned Iraq soldiers --into the fight with Bush. And, to borrow a slightly impolitic phrase from Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Joe Biden, they should "shove it down his throat."
John Nichols' new book is THE GENIUS OF IMPEACHMENT: The Founders' Cure for Royalism. Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson hails it as a "nervy, acerbic, passionately argued history-cum-polemic [that] combines a rich examination of the parliamentary roots and past use of the 'heroic medicine' that is impeachment with a call for Democratic leaders to 'reclaim and reuse the most vital tool handed to us by the founders for the defense of our most basic liberties.'"
Copyright © 2007 The Nation
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15 Comments so far
Show AllBush is so damn ignorant I can't stand the sight of this war criminal.Why oh why are the democrat's so timid in impeaching this moron?
Retribution.
Why doesn't he start getting called on his lies? There are so many of them. So just start with "I listen to my commanders on the ground". He's never listened to them. He fires, retires or transfers them if they don't say what he wants to hear. So now we have General Petraeus telling him what he wants to hear - for now. What I can't understand is General Petraeus appears to be a very smart man.
By the way, while we're squabbling over withdrawal dates, the Iraqi parliament, which has over two years accomplished nothing, has decided it needs a two month summer vacation. Goodbye benchmarks.
Bush just wants the world to see that he is right. Even after they pound in the nails and put him up on the hill, he still will believe he is right and world misunderstands him.
"#
By the way, while we're squabbling over withdrawal dates, the Iraqi parliament, which has over two years accomplished nothing, has decided it needs a two month summer vacation. Goodbye benchmarks.
"
Before you go trashing the Iraqi parliament, give two seconds thought to what it means to TRY AND WORK IN A BUILDING WITH INTERMITTENT ELECTRICITY, WHEN THE OUTSIDE TEMPERATURE IS WELL OVER 120 DEGREES FAHREINHEIT. Similar situations motivated the US Congress to close down in the summer. DC can get awful hot too, but nothing like baghdad.
and on another note: the title should be "Bush Goes AWOL- AGAIN" He walked away from his duty when he was in the TX Air National Guard. Why should we be surprised when he does so again?
Excuse me, but Bush doesn't need any spin to frame the Democrats as out to score political points regarding "war" policy (actually, occupation policy, which comes with a whole host of responsibilities and restraints that the Democrats disregard as freely as the Bushies). If the Democrats were serious about ending the aftermath of an illegal invasion and the ongoing devastation of people who never attacked the U.S. or posed a meaningful threat to the U.S,. they would impeach and support prosecution of the gang of thugs behind the military adventurism while they simultaneously provide funding to get the troops home and care for them and their families as well as taking care of the millions of Iraqis who have been abused and killed for years--with the blessing and votes of many Democrats. Instead, these spineless game players are now preparing to "compromise" on an illegal military operation by holding the victimized people who have been invaded responsible for righting the situation instead of the administration that continues to claim dictatorial power to conduct it more or less forever.
Other than the handful of truly anti-war representatives in Congress, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are showing any sort of leadership or responsibility that deserves respect. They are ALL playing politics for their own gain while great numbers of others die or suffer terribly as a result.
Sign on GW's desk in the oval office
"Duty Stops Here"
Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
HL Mencken
I often see people ask why Bush hasn't been taken to task for his deeds. I can only say the minute the he get whiff of an arrest order he will be playing the victim card to the hilt with the compliance MSM in tow. The disdain we usually feel for criminals when they cry innocence will instantly be forgotten and crowds of sympathetic sychophants will be rushing to his defense. Then the new civil war will begin here at home. We keep hoping that Bush would do the right thing and resign but he has already shown that he won't go without a fight. He has the arrogance of a man who knows that there will be fodder who will sacrifice themselves to protect him.
Should this mean that we give up? Hell no! I say if he wants to be forced from office then let's bring it to him. He has been coasting too long and the chickens are coming home to roost. The only question is do we as citizens have the guts to depose the first traitorous executive in the history of the United States? Will we ever? Bush despite all his foibles will be mild compared to whomever comes after him. And that guy will make even Hitler seem like a member of the Vienna Boys Choir. All because we won't have to courage to serve Bush his walking papers. If we are to take back this country and return it to its ideals then we need to impeach now. Let's show Iraq how democracy really works.
When Bush talks about Freedom, what he really means is the "freedom to do things my way". He doesn't understand the meaning of freedom, much less democracy.
I've written letter after letter, signed petition after petition about impeachment, and attended rally after rally. It doesn't seem to be getting anywhere. They don't have the votes and political will in Congress...yet. I think that our best hope, short of electing a new president in '08', is relentless investigation by congress. The Bush Administration has been given a free pass by a Republican congress for 6 years, but those days are over. When enough crimes have been documented, and the vomitous stench of this administration's deceit and lawlessness has reached a sufficient crescendo, perhaps Congress will finally find the political will and the votes to pull down this tyrant. Until then, keep signing those petitions!
pwrmac5,
You wrote "Bush ... will be mild compared to whomever comes after him." I think that is particularly true if the fellow is named Giuliani. If we get that fascist lunatic, I am afraid we will be longing for the days of Bush.
It's too bad Bush has been a failure all his life and so he would rather face death than admit his failure in Iraq. And it doesn't help that Cheney is a bitter, hateful old man who doesn't appear to get enough oxygen to his brain. This could get really, really ugly.
I wouldn't put a phony terrorist threat or attack requiring "continuity of leadership" and "martial law" into effect. This would, of course, require cancelation of 2008 elections in order to keep Cheney and Bush in office. Perhaps McCain has been brought (and bought) in to be the new crony capitalist patsy replacement for W. The turnabout of the straight-talk expresser is most suspicious, don't ya think?
Bush and the neocons are a big part of the problem but if Congress had not been AWOL in giving Bush & Cheney a blank check to declare war, we wouldn't be here to day. That goes for the passing of the Patriot Act and the Okaying of radical right judges for the Supreme Court as well.
Jaded speaks the truth. I was never more furious than the day Congress "sold its birthright" as war declarers to Bush. They all became fearful, quivering little sheep after 9/11, when we really needed true leaders to stand up for our democracy and our Constitution. I seem to recall it was a single (California?) congresswoman who had the fortitude to stand up for our country when the president decided to hijack it. The rest of them should be impeached along with Bush and Cheney.
Bandido, great quote from HL Mencken.
And jimsenter, I many be wrong, but while the iraqis live under horrific conditions, I was under the imnpression that the parliament lives and "works" in the Green Zone, which provides its own safety and power. In fact, the killing of a parliamentarian made big news because it was a rare penetration of Green Zone security.