In less than 2 weeks the Democrats take control of Congress. Around that time, George W. Bush will be announcing the results of his so-called "extensive consultations" on Iraq policy. Although his 180-degree pivot on Rumsfeld's tenure may provide hope for a reality-based Iraq policy, the chances do not seem good. His pronouncements, and even Rumsfeld's successor's, continue to speak in startlingly unrealistic terms about the current status of the war, and the ability of the US military to have a positive impact on the ultimate outcome. Red flag.
Democrats won control of Congress because of the lies, the incompetence, and the corruption of the Bush Administration, much of that related to the Iraqi quicksand into which they marched us. As stated before (Growing Immorality: Creeping Complicity), every additional day the Democrats wait, temporize or let the White House take the lead is a day where more blood is on their hands. Just as responsibility for the 30,000 US killed in Vietnam shifted from Lyndon Johnson to Richard Nixon as he persisted in the Vietnam war long after it was clear that US military power would not win it, allowing George W. to try to serve his own glory by sacrificing the lives and limbs of other peoples' children will make the Democratic Congress liable for those senseless losses.
Of course, the Congress is not the Commander-in-Chief, and has limited powers to effect strategic change. But, the Democrats must, immediately, move the discussion so that Bush is increasingly isolated even from key members of his own party. Here's a checklist:
1. STOP parroting White House talk about "victory" or "success", even if it is qualified by stating that victory is up to the Iraqis. Language has consequences. If Democrats buy into White House language, Bush shapes the discussion, the Democrats join him in fantasyland, and become the "yes, but" party.
2. START articulating the prospects realistically, where all the options are bad. Always accompany those statements with, "thanks to George Bush, his disastrous policies and incompetence...." to make it clear that no one is happy about that. Any time Bush, Cheney, Snow et al. make accusations about "losing", throw it back in their faces, about who is responsible for this mess.
3. STOP allowing to pass without comment that, if we do not fight them in Baghdad, we will be fighting them in Boston. (During the Vietnam war, the cities were Saigon and San Francisco).
4. START stating clearly that no further sacrifice of US lives and limbs is going to impact the final outcome. That's the clear moral (and political) fault line.
5. START focusing on the moral obligations to protect/save those who have cast their lots with us, and to help re-build the country. The latter is a 'carrot', as no re-building can occur without security, and security will occur only with resolution among the warring Iraqi parties. The former shifts the discussion of the US military mission to its one remaining, legitimate goal, and must include the right to emigrate (to the US, to the UK, whatever their choices).
6. Enact a tax on incomes (include all interest, capital gains, dividends as well as salaries) above $300,000, to pay, dollar-for-dollar but no more, for all further costs of the Iraq War, and sunset that tax to vanish when the last US soldier leaves Iraq.
7. USE the power of the purse to dictate where and for what the military may spend money in Iraq.
8. Wonder aloud why it is that not a single member of the Bush family has volunteered for Iraq. Use it to end every speech or statement on the war. [This is actually an extremely potent point, it strikes at the heart of their hypocrisy, but there is a conspiracy of silence among the political class and elite media against raising it. Note how Chris Matthews quickly moved to another point when Matt Damon suggested it in an MSNBC college tour interview].
Given his own way, George Bush will persist in Iraq until the end of his term, so that apologists may "blame" his successor for the eventual outcome, the tragedy he unleashed. Make no mistake, buying political time until the end of his Presidency is the sole purpose of his current "listening to advice" charade. No American son or daughter, husband or wife, brother or sister, should have their lives ended or shattered to save George Bush's pathetic legacy.