| Subject: The End of Iraq? |
Author:
Betty
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Date Posted: 01:01:46 06/15/05 Wed
With the flaws in the Iraq war, are we getting nearer to the pullout?
In 2003, Representative Walter Jones (R - North Carolina) voted for the Iraq War Resolution. I personally disagreed with that decision, but once the war was started I shut up and said we need to do what we have to do, but we should get out of the country as soon as possible. Well, it seems someone has heeded my words.
During the next House session, Rep. Walter Jones plans to introduce a resolution that would require the President to set a firm timetable for the Iraq War.
As we can remember from the last campaign, Bush condemned the idea of a timetable, saying it would give terrorists more to plan with. Jones contends however, along with numerous other Democrats, that the Iraqis are at the point at which they can fight their own battles with minimal intervention from the United States.
According to Jones, "we've done about as much as we can do" in Iraq, and the reasons that we were in Iraq have all been proven false. Jones went on to say that,
When I look at the number of men and women who have been killed -- it's almost 1,700 now, in addition to close to 12,000 have been severely wounded -- and I just feel that the reason of going in for weapons of mass destruction, the ability of the Iraqis to make a nuclear weapon, that's all been proven that it was never there.
For my part, I congratulate this man's boldness. The GOP is never fond of people dissenting against their hot-button issues, and for someone to break with the party on the Iraq War... It's just as bad in the eyes of the GOP as it was for Democrats to see someone with a Democratic affiliation give the keynote address at the Republican National Convention.
Maybe this will be the end of GOP dominance of Congress. With the GOP's hot button issues falling apart and with the GOP members unable to secure their own cohesiveness, the opportunity may be present in November of 2006 for Democrats to recapture one, if not both, houses of Congress.
My logic for that is this: First, national approval of congress has fallen to only 34%, which is only 3% higher than when the Democrats lost control of Congress in 1994. America is already not fond of Congress. If Congress passes Bush's social security measures, it will drop drastically, considering that many Americans oppose Bush's social security program. Factor in the fact that a lot of Congressional Actions of late aren't looked upon very highly by the American Public, and depending on whether you are a political donkey or elephant, you are either going to be looking at a miracle or a disaster in 2006.
Aside from that, the GOP isn't just holding together very well at the moment. The more moderate party members are having trouble accepting the actions as the extreme wing of the party as being justified, and are really considering what their role in the party actually is. They are the ones who are not quite traditionally part of the "Party Line," and actually vote what they feel is right, not what they are told to vote. I applaud these people for their determination to do what is right and their refusal to give in to the pressure being mounted on them by their peers in Congress.
But that lack of unity, the lack of focus in the GOP as well as just a bad reputation among the American Public form a recipe for a GOP disaster if they don't do something to shore up the loose ends -- and soon.
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