The
Plan for Iraq
by Ed Howes
When I allow my trained attack
dog out of the yard to run the streets, I am responsible for
any damage the dog does. The Bible says so and modern statutory
law says so. Careless dog owners are locked in American prisons
today. When Congress turned America's President loose, Congress
became responsible for the consequences. But you would never
know that to hear them tell it.
The Congressional response is
to dodge responsibility by beating the dog and teaching him to
behave differently next time. Bad dog! Senator Joseph Biden recently
spoke for Congress when he publicly stated that he had no regrets
about authorizing the President to wage war without conditions,
he only regrets the incompetence of the President. It is time
to remove Senator Biden and his kind, who deny their responsibility
and point to others. All who voted to give unconditional war
making authority to the President committed the rest of America
to the consequences of their irresponsible behavior. Whether
we voted for any of them, they are acting in our name. Hence,
we are ultimately responsible.
Members of Congress daily remind
us the administration has no plan for Iraq. The administration
says it is following its plan. What is the Congressional plan
for Iraq? They have had a year to create one. I'll tell you what
their plan is. It is to interfere with and haggle over any plan
there is. I don't have a plan for Iraq and it would hardly make
a difference if I did. Right or wrong, the President is taking
responsibility for an incompetent Congress and the only plan
we have. Congress needs to shut up and do what is asked of it,
until it has a better plan. If the people want a better Congress,
they are out of luck. This one is the best money can buy. If
they won't do their jobs, and they won't, they should forfeit
their pay and go home. The world would be a better place for
it.
There is one plan that has come
out of Congress that should have enough appeal to enough people,
to become the reality. Recently announced Democratic Presidential
candidate, Dennis Kucinich, says something to the effect of surrendering
all U.S. interest in Iraq to the United Nations and withdraw
United States forces. I assume he is working on a bill to introduce
to Congress.
The intention to turn this whole
thing over to the U.N. is diabolically simple. It is enough to
take the edge off the global hatred of the United States for
its former unilateralism. It answers the question, what can we
do to abate the global hatred of the U.S.? It gives the U.N.
Security Council opponents exactly what they have been asking
for and more - a big job with which to prove its competence and
relevance.
While the President remains on
the hook for all the promises made to his corporate friends,
he is off the hook for the final outcome in Iraq, as much as
he wants to see it through. If Congress takes this action before
November, 2004, the President won't be standing before the American
public asking for four more years to pursue his Iraqi dream.
The minute we have worked out
a plan for an orderly withdrawal in cooperation with the other
U.N. Security Council members and the transfer of security and
redevelopment authority to the U.N.; the pressure will be off
all the anti American forces now in Iraq, to drive the U.S. out.
It will save American and Iraqi lives.
This action would also take the
pressure off the national credit card. In fact, the available
credit could be invested in Afghanistan to finish the work the
U.S. Government started there. The U.N. could hardly come to
the U.S. with hat in hand for Iraq, since the U.S. will always
be the most heavily invested Council member for the foreseeable
future.
President Bush will always be
able to take credit for doing the right thing, even more than
today. He took charge when the U.N. refused to do any more than
pass new resolutions. When the U.N. decided it was safer to act,
he surrendered all authority and future obligation to them. New
Age wisdom teaches us to pursue our dreams with no attachment
to the outcome. If the President can learn this wisdom in less
than a year, his re election should be a shoe in. If he cannot
give up the attachment to his Iraqi dream, he does not have a
chance of reelection. America can sense the truth of this right
now. That sense will only become stronger over the coming year.
Here is the best growth opportunity
in U.N. history. Let the world see how the United Nations restores
sovereignty to the Iraqi people. Let the world see how it is
done.
The President is a gambler. He
is not very good at it. You bet and win. You bet again and see
you are losing. You leave the table and cut your losses. Play
again when your luck holds. The President has no intention to
cut losses. He wants to play until he has lost the bankroll.
He needs Congress to pull him away from the table. Congress wants
to let him play on.
If the President would act on
the good advice of a political opponent, before Congress forced
him to act, he would be a very popular man with the American
people. He would have to renegotiate the promises made to friends
but that is as much modern politics as cheating the people and
paying lip service.
Personally, I do not believe
President Bush will give up the attachment to his Iraqi dream,
no matter what the cost to himself and the country. Nor do I
see an incompetent Congress imposing the will of the people on
him. But we need Dennis to submit bill post haste, so we can
identify the incompetent members of Congress, who apparently
have no ideas of their own, and only get in the way.
Until such time as there is a
better plan than candidate Kucinich has proposed, we ought to
let him know we want a bill in Congress now. If he follows through
and is opposed by the Congress or the White House, he should
be our next President. He is clearly not attached to outcomes.
Ed Howes may be contacted
at http://Bedinghamstudio.com/view.asp
edhowes@hotmail.com.
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A freelance writer published
on many websites and in newspapers.
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