It was the week that Washington woke up to the war. Politicians were climbing over each other to announce their plans for peace. In the most stunning development, Maxine Waters led a rebellion against House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and formed the impromptu "Out of Iraq" caucus. Rep. John Conyers continued his steady leadership by chairing a hearing on the Downing Street Memoranda, attended by over 25 members in a tiny basement room forced on them by a peeved Republican leadership. Conyers and other members then took 500,000 petitions to the White House gates before addressing a rally in Lafayette Park.
Two weeks ago, I felt more depressed about the Democrats than at any time in forty years. But suddenly the dovish wings are flapping. What happened? First, the war has gone badly since the Iraq elections last January. Second, polls show 60 percent of Americans favoring partial or complete withdrawal. Third, Bush is sinking by every measure. So Pelosi's strategy of backing Bush in Iraq (to avoid looking weak in 2006) simply had no legs.
As liberal Democrats found their voice, certain elements of the anti-war movement returned to their battle stations. Move.on, which had moved on from the Iraq issue for the past six months, suddenly was collecting petitions. Win Without War, which had not been heard from, was holding press conferences. Only Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), which organized the Lafayette Park rally, could feel good about staying the course.
Strategically, the biggest news of the week was the emergence of a Republican bloc of anti-war representatives, symbolized by Walter Jones of South Carolina, the member who organized the "freedom fries" backlash against the French only two years ago. I talked with the brother and father of Sherwood Baker, killed in action in Baghdad, after they left a one-hour meeting with Jones. They quoted the Congressman as being shaken after attending a soldier's funeral in his district, and saying that his Christian conscience could take no more of the war.
Clearly a turning point has been reached, but it is premature to think the war is ending. The Bush Administration can escalate (send more troops, invade Syria, bomb Iran), or create the appearance of a peace plan (Nixon redux) in order to destablize the anti-war opposition.
For more on how to end the war in Iraq, go to tomhayden.com
