"Ominous...eerie parallels between the debate about Iraq in 2002 and the debate about Iran in 2007."

[dajoki]

The Hill's Pundit Blog

October 23, 2007
World War III and the Moment of Truth for Democrats (Brent Budowsky)
@ 2:13 pm
As the president speaks of World War III and potential war with Iran with fevered rhetoric in a near-hysterical atmosphere, the world stands at a moment of great danger.

For Democrats as a leadership party and the Congress as a co-equal branch of government, it is a moment of truth, and recent history does not augur well.

World War III?

For the president to speak in terms of World War III is extreme, irrational and distempered, and for a Democratic Senate to pass an Iran resolution in this atmosphere of fear and frenzy makes 2007 and Iran look ominously similar to 2002 and Iraq.

It has not been widely noted, but the original version of the Iran resolution included a section calling on the United States to use all economic and diplomatic means to address the problems surrounding Iran.

This section, amazingly, was dropped from the final version that passed. Which senators did not support including diplomatic and economic means of achieving American goals in a resolution that passed at such a dangerous moment?

Senators had forgotten, again, that the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was distorted into an effective declaration of war in Vietnam.

Senators had forgotten, again, that the Iraq resolution in 2002 was twisted into an effective declaration of war in Iraq.

It is ominous to note the eerie parallels between the debate about Iraq in 2002 and the debate about Iran in 2007.

The president who used fear of mushroom clouds to frighten the country to war in Iraq now escalates his promotion of fear to World War III, quoting from neoconservative voices who have been disastrously and deadly wrong on national security.

A Democratic Senate has passed the Iran resolution and the Democratic front-runner, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), claimed she voted for that resolution because it promoted diplomacy when obviously, in fact, it did exactly the opposite.

Sound familiar?

Today the Iraq war appears interminable. The Afghanistan war is locked in bloody stalemate. The war against terrorism lags as al Qaeda has come back strongly. Pakistan faces a dangerous crisis. Turkey moves troops near the Iraq border. Putin monopolizes power. Cold War rhetoric returns.

Yet the president speaks of World War III, and what was also underreported is the standard he set for the third World War he speaks of.

The president did not say the threat is triggered when Iran achieves nuclear weaponry, or when Iran crosses a technical point of no return. No, what the president said was that his standard would be when Iran acquires the knowledge even without the action — a standard so low it comes dangerously close to guaranteeing yet another unwise war, and in the dangerously near future.

It is time for Democrats to step up in a manner they have not since the vote on the Iraq resolution in 2002. It is time for Democrats to stop surrendering to the politics of fear by becoming so fearful themselves their voice is silenced, as the gathering storm of another war comes closer by the hour.

Sen. Clinton in particular should speak out forcefully and clearly and end her uncertain trumpet on the matter of war with Iran.

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate should wave the banner that our country does not need another unwise war, and that talk of World War III is irrational, distempered and and extremist.

This is a fight Democrats will win, if waged, but the kind of fight that has not been waged at any time during the dark years of the Bush wars.

We should win the one war that matters, and focus all our efforts on killing Osama bin Laden, and challenge aggressively the failures of our president and vice president to defeat and kill the perpetrators of Sept. 11, 2001.

We should oppose with every breath this march towards endless war, this talk of World War III, this push for a new war with Iran, and the hysteria being pushed by the voices of unreason that have brought enough chaos and carnage for a lifetime.

This time, Democrats must have the spine to make a stand.

[BushOut06]

1. Of course it sounds familiar - anyone with half a brain could see that

They present these claims about Iran's nuclear activity without a single shred of proof - at least, not any proof that would stand up in a court of law. The next logical step, right before they take military action, is to claim that Iran poses an "imminent threat" that can't be ignored. Of course, we found out just how much of an "imminent threat" Iraq posed - none whatsoever.

The problem is, I suspect the Democrats will go right along with Bush on this one. They won't start making a stink about it until AFTER the shit hits the fan. Fucking spineless cowards.

[killbotfactory]

2. We will never stop starting wars

We barely care about who started the last one, and why.

[Hawkowl]

9. Constitutional Amendment

An amendment not against starting wars, but a constitutional amendment to prohibit corporations from making any profit during wartime. The defense contractors could make a profit during peacetime, but as soon as hostilities break out, no profit. This would stop 99.9% of all wars.

[dajoki]

11. Nice, but...

I can't our Congress people allowing it.

[daninthemoon]

3. There's no denying the script is from the same playbook, almost

word for word. Show me the nuclear weapons. Oh yeah, the preznut says the seeking of "knowledge" of nuclear weapons is now enough. That's what makes HC's support of kyl-(lie)berman so frustrating. It's senseless to claim the vote doesn't authorize more war. They already approved him to attack terraists wherever, so declaring the Iranian guard terraists is all he needs.

[rAVES]

4. *sigh* theres no saving us....

[IA_Seth]

5. The only difference...

Is that so far we don't have any Democratic Senator co-sponsoring a bill and writing Op-Ed pieces calling for authorization.

This time he is just running for President.

[dajoki]

10. Our last presidential...

voted for the authorization.

[gasperc]

6. war w/Iran will accelerate $'s slide, galvanize millions against the US

and not do anything to tamp down on terrorism or the "war on Terror"

and these all seem to be the goals of the Bush administration. A weak dollar policy to artificially inflate US assets and improve export pricing, galvanize opponents in Iraq and Iran so that they continue to fight and therefore require the presence of American military personel and galvanize the American electorate to conservative philosophy, that we must unite and fight the extremist Islamic enemy abroad.
This, of course is a deeply flawed and failing strategy, that will not only be costly and deadly but lead to the balkanization of the United States of America. These diasterous policies, along with the ignoring of global climate change will lead to states declaring their wish to leave the union. These forces are growing and threatening the very survival of the union.
Budowsky is exactly right that our Democratic leadership must speak out now and very forcefully. The conservatives are foolishly thinking that the country will unite behind them. The exact opposite will occur, the media will try to comply and collude with the government but events will spiral out of their control. I can't be sure of which states will lead this charge but is we go on this path, it is a historical certainty of empires.

[kestrel91316]

7. Bush is planning to "poison the well". He KNOWS the Republicans

are gonna lose the White House in 2008, so he's gonna make it impossible for them to do much of a job to fix everything he has deliberately monkeywrenched, by starting WWIII shortly before the new Dem president takes office.

Just my take on things. I think I understand this freak.

[dajoki]

8. I HOPE the Repubs lose the White House in 2008...

They certainly deserve it, but I can't take that for granted. You know the tricks and thievery they can pull off.

[DCKit]

12. Sing it with me!! "It's the same old song, but with different music...." nt