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Kucinich Bill for Troop Exit Draws GOP Support in Afghan Debate
As the House prepares to vote Thursday on a resolution to bring U.S. troops home from Afghanistan, the military is warning of calamitous effects if the measure passes.
The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), directs the president to remove all U.S. forces from Afghanistan. It came to the House floor under an expedited procedure allowed by the War Powers Act. (AFP/File/Deshakalyan Chowdhury) The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), directs the president to remove all U.S. forces from Afghanistan. It came to the House floor under an expedited procedure allowed by the War Powers Act.
Gen. David Petraeus on Wednesday slammed the Kucinich-backed measure, saying it would trigger "incalculable" consequences in Afghanistan and across the Middle East.
“The Taliban and al Qaeda obviously would trumpet this as a victory, as a success" if the House approves it, Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. "Needless to say, it would completely undermine everything our troopers have fought so much for and sacrificed so much for.”
The general said the measure would essentially "close the door on the very, very hard-fought effort and end a mission that I think is seeking to achieve a very, very important security objective of our country as well as of our allies."
The measure is not expected to pass, but it will offer a glimpse at congressional support for a war that has dragged on for nearly a decade. It comes four months before a July benchmark when the Obama administration has said it will begin withdrawing U.S. troops. And it will provide the first test of support for the war among the new Tea Party-aligned Republican freshmen.
In the early debate on the House floor, Republican Reps. Walter Jones (N.C.), Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.) and Jason Chaffetz (Utah) joined liberal Democrats in arguing in favor of the resolution.
Chaffetz, who is considering a Senate bid in 2012, criticized the president’s strategy and said if the U.S. went to war, it should only go “all in.”
“A politically correct war is a lost war,” Chaffetz said. “At the present time, we are playing politics.”
While Chaffetz argued for the resolution, anti-war activists shouted from the House gallery, “End the occupation!” They were escorted out of the chamber.
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26 Comments so far
Show AllTea partiers and other Islamophobes are terrified of communists -- oops, terrorists: I forgot they changed bogeymen -- while "mainstream" Republicans are terrified of Tea partiers. Democrats are terrified of Republicans, specifically they are terrified of appearing "soft" on "terror." So Afghan men, women, and kids -- mostly women and kids, since they can't get out of the way the way actual combatants do -- are dying to protect Barack Obama from Sarah Palin.
What a world.
General Petraeus, the top US military commander in Afghanistan, told Congress that the occupation of the Central Asian country would go on indefinitely, amidst reports of sharply increased civilian casualties.[wsws]
He, like most of his bosses, is wrong. Don't believe the fear-mongering. Look where it's gotten us.
The mouthpieces of Empire (e.g. Petraeus) fear "calamitous effects" and "'incalculable' consequences" if the bill goes through.
Yes, they are right, it will have calamitous effects on the phoney Global War on Terror and, more widely, on the military-industrial complex's world wide machinations. That is what these dirtbags are worried about.
The Empire has entered wobble zone. Let's push it further into that zone.
When I consider that our military-political-CIA apparatus has been demonstrated to be unable to maintain peace and stability in the world with a budget larger than that of all equivalent services of all other countries on Earth combined and with more aircraft carriers, more surface ships, more planes, more drones, more nukes than any other country I have come to the conclusion that it might be worth while to find out what might happen if our nation down scaled its MPCIA apparatus to the size of China's. I bet that the world would become much more peaceful especially after the UN is also deposited into the dustbin of history.
Silly and ineffectual. This resolution makes Kucinich look good and the warmongers a chance to squawk against it, nothing more.
What serious and effectual action would you suggest a member of congress might take regarding the Afghanistan war?
I know, I sound pessimistic. And I am. I don't believe Congress has any intention of ending this war. Action will not come from our Corporatocracy. Maybe I'll wake up someday and realize how wrong I am.
You couldn't possibly be any more pessismistic than I am. I'm just pointing out that pillorying Kucinich for making the bastards take a stand on maintaining the war is unproductive.
It's a rhetorical flourish. We already know where the bastards (and bitches) stand. I don't think Kucinich is capable of more, so I'm not really pillorying him. But what are the effects? If anything, the media will front the generals talking about what a rash idea this is. If anything.
Well, there's always room for a rhetorical flourish. Incidentally, bastard carries no gender. Elizabeth I was called a bastard.
1. A 95% tax on all profits related to this war to pay for it and care for its casualties.
2. A 15% surtax on gasoline to help pay for this war and care for its casualties.
3. A $1.00 per share tax on all stocks and bonds traded to pay for this war and care for its casualties.
4. A 10% surtax on cable-TV, movies, theatre and sports tickets to pay for this war and care for its casualties.
5. A 20% surtax on cigarettes and alcohol to pay for this war and care for its casualties.
6. A 50% war tax on all incomes over $1 million to pay for this war and care for its casualties.
7. A 20% special war surtax on salaries of ALL members of Congress who still vote funds to continue this war to pay for this war and care for its casualties.
If USans REALLY claim to "support our troops", it's about time we put our money where our mouth is.
Not only corporations run the US, so does the military plus numerous other unpleasantly motivated entities and individuals...
Authoritarians always come up with some serious-sounding hype to justify their actions to credulous, unreflective authoritarian-follower citizens.
They've milked every slogan from "Manifest Destiny", "Mutual Assured Destruction", and "The Domino Effect" for all they were worth.
Elected Misrepresentatives and prestigious government and military leaders are notorious for coining rhetorical hooks upon which to hang their monstrous pontifications.
And let's not leave out the various "Doctrines", which are promulgated as if the Creator and Supreme Micro-Manager of the Universe Himself personally handed them down to the above-cited mountebanks.
And their cronies in the power elite, including the "loyal opposition" politicians and corporate media commentariat, enthusiastically go along for the ride and cheerlead all the way.
General Betrayus said “The Taliban and al Qaeda obviously would trumpet this as a victory, as a success. Needless to say, it would completely undermine everything our troopers have fought so much for and sacrificed so much for.”
________*
1) There is no such thing as Al-Qaida. Never was.
2) Whether we leave now, or kill a bunch more people before we leave 20 years from now, the Afghan people and the Muslim world WILL celebrate the fact that they've outlasted us.
3) This man probably wants occupation until 2015, when he'll claim victory, bring our troops home and run for president in 2016.
Ah, there it is: the argument that we can't ever bring our armed forces home because "it would completely undermine everything our troopers have fought so much for and sacrificed so much for.”
As David Swanson writes in his latest book, "War Is A Lie," this is one of the lies used by assholes like Petraeus (and our Presidents, Secretaries of Defense, and other infamous generals) for never ending war.
Why does David Swanson support the Democratic Party?
Good question, Chelseagirl. He did say at a recent appearance in Florida that we need to move beyond the two parties, but I'm not sure exactly what he meant by that.
Elizabeth I understand your frustration but Kucinich is talking and trying to head in the right direction. Who else really is? Where is John Kerry? Hiding and waffling, as usual. Let's back Kucinich until he starts to falter, then put the heat on him. Obama is a Trojan Horse if there ever was one. What a weak compromising hypocrite.
I still have a fondness for DK, but if anything were to come of this, he'd only back down just as he did on "health care reform."
..
Cut our losses ,,,,ASAP........This is a NO WIN WAR.
Afghanistan is the infamous,,,"Graveyard of Empires"
//
Dennis, go lay down. You have no credibility in any area. You are simply one more lying ass politician.
The measure is not expected to pass
The measure is not expected to pass
The measure is not expected to pass
Do you see a pattern in every single news item on legislation that makes some sense? Face it. Gates and Pet-fartus have more power than the White House and congress. WTF is congress going to do? Defund the pentagon? HAH! The mad scientiests at the Army bio labs would rig up another anthrax "terrorist" attack immediately.
The constitution requires that domestic enemies of the republic be confronted and defeated. Many framers of the constitution cautioned against standing armies because they have that "habit" of taking over countries they are supposed to defend.
It happened here. As long as you don't believe that, things will only get worse.
I'm surprised that Rohrbacher was for this bill. That guy has got to be one of the biggest D*ckheads in DC. I wonder why.
Because he knows it doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of passing but he wants some brownie points with the voters. It's a game those folks on the hill play. To decode it, always watch to see who is up for election and who isn't. The ones who aren't up for election always vote for their corporate papa. The ones in "safe" districts too. The few left play the populist. It's a scam.
I can't imagine any military personnel, especially David Patreus going along with this bill - what would they do and where would they go if they didn't have wars to wage? What would happen to the trillions of dollars that go into the Military Industrial Machine if it weren't for keeping fear alive, creating the illusion that wars are the only way to survive 'The Other' out there. The United States is the only country to use mass nuclear weapons and we have enough to kill every person on the planet 500 times over - where does it end, this funneling of our monies for violence and destruction in the name of protection and patriotism? Patriotism is synonimous with being trained to kill anyone who doesn't agree with the 'states views' on how things should be and how others should behave. This can look disastrous in the hands of the dense and the ignorant - witness Bush and Cheney's endorsement of torture, and now Barack Obama's double-back on all he promised to do after he was elected. Status quo.
The time to be in Afghanistan doing nation building was immediately after the Russians left, and before Osama bin Laden became the one who fed, clothed, and led the people of that country. We will never win their hearts by destoying their people and decimating their culture. I give Dennis Kucinich huge kudos for his humanitarian instincts, regardless of the Republicans who will ideologically politicize this bill for their own means.