Rep McDermott: "We need a plan to return U.S. soldiers to U.S. soil, not

[understandinglife]

... a decade from now, but right now.

When it comes to Iraq, the President and his Administration continue to act like cowboys in a western movie. When will we learn? Until we do, there will be no solution in Iraq.

The President stampeded the American people into a flawed, futile and fatal war, and this Administration keeps applying B-movie mentality to real life suffering.

We have taken sides in a war torn nation, inadvertently backing the Kurds and Shiites - to the detriment of the Sunnis. This is not some clan fight on a movie set that will get solved with a new sheriff riding into town, proclaiming peace and progress, but that’s the Administration’s current strategy.

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There’s a difference in a President leading the nation through a time of crisis and this President misleading the nation into precipitating a crisis. We have a crisis. We need a leader. We need a plan to return U.S. soldiers to U.S. soil, not a decade from now, but right now.



From Democracy or Occupation? on November 18, 2005

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-jim-mcdermott/democracy-or-occupation_b_10855.html

Agreed.

As many of us have known since Bush and his neoconster buddies started this illegal war of aggression, they didn't begin to consider the consequences of being an occupier. Everyone in the world knows we can "shock and awe," but then comes the hard part of imperialism. They were warned by many that "on the cheap" imperialism would ensure massive cost of life and resources while accelerating the inevitable civil war that has now been raging in Iraq since the early summer of 2003.

We need to be out of Iraq completely, with as efficient and secure a logistical withdrawal as we can possibly engineer, no later than May of 2006.

At the same time, some responsible representative of our government must go before the UN General Assembly and:

1. Apologize;

2. State unequivocally that those who broke the law will be held accountable in an American Tribunal on the Iraq War;

3. Request logistical support and cooperation for the removal of ALL Americans from Iraq;

4. Request international support for a stabilization group to work with the various Iraqi factions to fashion a geo-political framework that enables the various groups who live in that part of the world to stop killing one another and begin rebuilding their infrastructure and their society.

We, yes you and me, and the next two or three generations of Americans are going to be paying for a big piece of that reconstruction. We broke it, while breaking all kinds of laws. We don't own it, but we have a long-term responsibility for the criminal behavior of our government and their no-bid corporate "contractors."


Peace.

[upi402]

1. Jim is a real Democrat.

:patriot:

[understandinglife]

2. Yes, and a bunch more folk should have listened to him in 2002-03.

Peace.

[ismnotwasm]

3. The man kicks ass

And he's my Rep. I'm proud to say.

[understandinglife]

4. Mine, as well! Very proud of him.

Peace.

[TahitiNut]

5. The Bushoilinis are doing a good job of that ...

... if you consider "U.S. soil" to be Arlington National Cemetery. :cry:

[understandinglife]

6. Never thought of it that way ...

... rather overwhelming when you do.

Peace,
Bob

[wiggs]

7. If you add in accelerated training of iraqis for security,

you have Kerry's proposal from 1.5 years ago. Unfortunately, it didn't get press and wasn't articulated in compelling way.

I think your #1 item, apologize, is an important and under-rated component in all of this. To restore some respect in the world, to let everyone know we consider this administration to be rogue, and to begin moving in a different direction we have to reject the old ourselves by apologizing. (The 2004 elections were a good opportunity for us to start doing this... and I'm hopeful the new GAO findings will give us another opportunity to distance ourselves from this administration)

We need friends in the world to combat the challenges ahead.

[understandinglife]

8. "We need friends in the world to combat the challenges ahead."

Thank you.

And, we need everyone in the world to realize that we the people insisted that our government be truthful, that we the people are responsible for holding them accountable, and we are doing just that.

The 'stabilization' group that I mention would have as a primary goal the establishment of a security system within the geo-political entity currently called Iraq. Several other "infrastructure" tasks are critical including restoration of an ability for "Iraq" to earn capital from the sale of oil so that it can pay for many of the services that must be provided to the war ravaged population. For the sake of keeping the post brief, I just lumped these obvious goals.

And, by no means do I think I am conveying anything novel - these are basics. Senator Kerry has understood the basic requirements and articulated them more than once, as you note.

But, before we will be able to muster the extensive collaboration the daunting challenges in Iraq, the wider area of the middle east and South Asia represent, we the people are going to have to muster the courage and humility to demand that any person worthy of the title -- President of the United States of America -- must demonstrate that to the world by standing before the UN General Assembly. That President must begin with an apology to humanity and also indicate the precise legal mechanisms we intend to apply to those who willfully violated the law.


Peace.