"Dedicated to exposing the lies and impeachable offenses of George W. Bush"

The more things change, the more they stay the same
Capital Hill Blue
By DOUG THOMPSON
December 20, 2006

After voters overwhelmingly rejected President George W. Bush's illegal and failed war in Iraq, tossed out the corrupt Republican leadership of Congress and sent an strong message that things needed to change and change right away, it appears we're back on that same old dead-end road to a war that won't end and can't be won, led by a President who won't listen and aided and abetted by a Congress that won't stop him.

Bush, in an interview with The Washington Post made it clear Tuesday that he will send more American troops to fight and die in Iraq because he still labors under the illusion that his failed war can be won.

And it looks like the new Democratic leadership of Congress will let him do so without question or recrimination. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he supports an increase in troops levels to "restore stability" in Iraq but claims that increase should only be temporary and the troops must be brought home.

In the House, Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has told Democrats who want to investigate Bush or even impeach him to "cool it" and says she and the new leadership will seek ways to "work with the White House."

I'm not surprised at Reid's capitulation. He's a corrupt, bribe-taking old-school politician with a growing defense-related industry in his home state of Nevada. He knows that playing to the warmongers is good for business as well as his campaign war chest and Reid has a long history of getting rich off his political contacts.

But I expected more of Pelosi, the San Francisco liberal who promised to bring change to the House. But Pelosi is no reformer. Hell, she's the daughter of Thomas D'Alessandro, the mob-controlled mayor who turned Baltimore over to organized crime during his reign of corruption in the 40s. Pelosi likes to brag that she learned politics at her father's feet and it looks like she learned her lessons well.

As soon as the Democrats won the November mid-term elections, Pelosi took impeachment of Bush off the agenda, admitting it was just a campaign gimmick.

"Impeachment is off the table. It is a waste of time," Pelosi told 60 minutes. You have to wonder how much some Republican fat cat paid for that decision.  Another corrupt politician bought.

Let's look back to what has happened since the November mid-terms:

  • The Democrats sweep to power in the House and Senate, aided by a strong antiwar sentiment from voters.  Then they immediately stop talking about any firm timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. Pelosi tells her incoming chairman to forget about impeachment.
  • The day after the election, Bush fires Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the public face of the war, and appoints former CIA head Robert Gates, who tells Congress that we are losing the war.
  • The Iraq Study Group issues its long-awaited report, urging diplomacy and saying combat troops should be withdrawn by 2008 and replaced by more military advisors. But the bottom line of the ISG report is that the situation in Iraq is "grave and deteriorating."
  • Gates then starts talking about the need to "win" in Iraq, the same nonsense language that Rumsfeld, Bush, Cheney use.
  • The Pentagon says it needs more troops in Iraq to "complete the mission."
  • Bush admits the U.S. is "not winning" the war and says more troops are necessary to "win."

We're back to where we were before: More Americans dying in Iraq with plans to send in even more to die; more billions wasted in a war that most military experts say can't be won no matter how many troops we send in; a President who continues to do whatever he damn well pleases and a Congress that will sit on its collective ass and do nothing.

© Copyright 2006 by Capitol Hill Blue

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