The Deed Is Done – Part I
02/18/2007
The Deed Is Done – Part IPaul Munnis
The deed is done and Congress has spoken on behalf of the 63% of Americans who oppose further escalation of violence in Iraq. Our Senate will now vote in a measure that is anti-climax to today’s House action.
Yes this vote is symbolic but it is highly significant – it marks a formal end to support of Mr. Bush by Congress. His open wallet and no questions asked style of governing has ended. Beginning now Congressional oversight is in operation and efforts to bring our troops home are committed and now are underway.
Where it goes from here is to be determined more by sequence events than by anything else although the end game is now clear. The Iraqi government is weak, the funding for troop deployment depends upon Democrats, and so far Democrats have held their ranks together thus representing the will of the people. Attempts made by the GOP to splinter the Democratic Party have failed. The outlook is for an end to the war in Iraq.
The GOP has had splintering and that is to be expected since many come from heavy Democratic Party leaning voter districts. They need those people to vote for them or else they lose their jobs. That is what happened to former Rep. Gil Gutknecht of Minnesota. Congressmen first need to be elected and then re-elected in order to be effective at representing their District. Iraq has been pure poison to those who support the Iraqi war.
Now we will see what happens. The next move is Mr. Bush’s and he cannot continue to ignore the will of the people and the will of Congress lest he be removed from office.
Then Iraq must be heard from and then Iran will weigh in. Russia is bound to get their oar in the water via Mr. Putin as is Britain’s Tony Blair bound to weigh in on the matter. How these people respond will set the tone for what follows, especially the Iran response. Iran would do well to just shut-up.
If all is reasonably containable then Congress will move to cut-off troop funding for continued deployment in Iraq and our troops will come home.
It is quite likely that the U.S. will not move to occupy a foreign country in the forseeable future. That will have a major impact on foreign policy and an even bigger impact on the composition of our military.