Stoopid Stuff

At Long Last, Honesty. Or is it Political Expediency?

So now we have Lugar and Voinevich joining Chuck Hagel and most of the rest of the world in calling for an American withdrawal from Iraq. Much ink will be spilled examining their motivations. Are they finally separating from a lockstep partnership with Bush and Cheney due to an honest assessment of the debacle in Iraq, or have they merely reached a point where continued political support for this failed and broadly loathed policy was going to destroy their political careers?

Who cares? Sure, many of us would like to see the criminals in this administration publicly humiliated, punished, ground into rhetorical dust, serving, for all time as a cautionary tale against arrogance, hubris and blind pursuit of the accumulation of power. But that has GOT to be a secondary goal. The primary goal, for now and right up until the last American serviceman and woman is out of that blighted land is to end this illegal, murderous occupation. For me, I will accept any ally, work with any fellow traveller, agree to any alliance and take any measures necessary to bring that about.

I will promise, however, that I will not forget. I will turn on the Republican and Neocon thugs that created this disaster, that shredded the constitution and brought such shame and hatred upon our nation as soon as I no longer need them. They will not buy my silence, my complicity or my acceptance. They can do the right thing, even if it's for the wrong reasons, and I will welcome them. But this is about Iraq. American lives and treasure, and the ongoing crimes against humanity being perpetuated by an occupation with no goal, no reason and no plan.

These same Republican legislators, with very few exceptions, provided the political cover the administration needed to destroy everything America means, everything it stands for, every ideal we tried, if not always successfully, to live up to. And they will have to answer for that. They will have to accept the responsibility for taking a true liberal democracy and turning it into something twisted and foul, something more familiar to Erich Honecker than to Thomas Jefferson.

I will cheerfully celebrate their political demise, and if the gods smile upon us again, their criminal prosecution. I will let history record their crimes, their complicity, their enablement of nothing short of a coup d'état, and I will let society judge their crimes. They deserve nothing less than our disgust, and our disdain. And in spite of their attempts to turn America into an authoritarian coporatocracy, perhaps the nation will emerge from this long nightmare stronger, with renewed commitment to liberty and equality. Perhaps.

But for now, there is no time. There is no room for choosing sides. We do not have the comfort of selectively choosing our allies and closing our tent off from those who we otherwise would not be willing to consort with. People are dying, innocent people, ours and others. Our country is hemorrhaging lives, money and respect. We are making every measurable condition faced by our government and our people worse, not better. There is nothing good to be attained, and it is nothing but the ego and hubris of our current failed leadership that insists that we continue down this ruinous path.

So welcome, Senator Lugar. Welcome to any Republican, Libertarian or Theocrat that has some measure of a constituency to be swayed. Welcome anyone who can influence an administration with very little left to lose. Perhaps, if you work hard enough, help enough and do enough good, it can be mentioned as a mitigating factor at your trials. It isn't much, I know, but it is perhaps more than you deserve, and this is your last best chance at redemption.

posted by mikey @ 10:31 PM