Really Pissed Off!

To anyone who witnessed the Democratic Debate at Dartmouth College on September 26th, you would never know whether you were listening to a Democrat or a Republican regarding Iraq! Clinton, Obama and Edwards all implied that U.S. Armed Forces could still be deployed in Iraq at the end of their First Term! Once again, the Democratic Party is afraid to take a stand! The only one who stood up was Bill Richardson, who has stated that he would pull all troops out of Iraq while keeping some deployed in Kuwait, return to diplomacy and engaging Iraq’s neighbors in helping with the insurgency. But it appears that Richardson is not the choice of the Democratic National Committee. The DNC is waiting to see who emerges from the three front runners, none of whom has any answer how we end the War in Iraq! Once again, the Democrats will go with a candidate whose Presidential Campaign will end up in the toilet, no matter how much money he or she has raised!

The people of America gave the Democratic Party a mandate in 2006 to end this War! It was obvious that the present Administration plans to lay back and continue the bloodletting of both American troops and Iraqi civilians, only to turn this horrific mess over to the next Administration. Up to now, the Democrats have been unable to make any ground in slowing down the War, let alone stopping it! All you hear is that they have neither the votes in the House nor the Senate to pass any legislation, let alone to override Bush’s veto. Unfortunately, that’s the present situation, but you don’t just sit there and complain. There was a recent attempt to place an amendment to the Appropriations Bill in the Senate to reduce the active duty of our Armed Forces by Senators James Webb (D-VA) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE), but that went down to defeat, with only six Republicans on board. That was the last chance this year to do anything to try to slow down “The Surge.”

The only candidate who has a plan for Iraq is Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico. From the moment he announced that he was running for President, Richardson has stated that we must pull our troops out now. Richardson is right! Having spent time negotiating in the Muslim world, Richardson knows that we have now become the problem, not part of the solution. There is no good immediate solution in Iraq. No matter which road you take, the solution will take time and more bloodshed. There are lesions in History, which this present Administration failed to study. The Shi’ia in Iraq has only been a majority of the population over the pat two centuries. What we know as Iraq was a backwater of the Ottoman Empire and during its gradual disintegration from the 18th Century, to the end of WW I, the Shi’ia have grown from a small portion of the population to the majority. This was due to the proximity and influence of Iran, as two of the holiest sites of the Shi’ia are Karbala and Najaf. Even after WW I, as a British Mandate, Iraq was governed by the Sunni, as the British had made a deal to make Faysal 1, the King of Iraq in 1921. Through the fall of two Republics to the rise of the Ba’th Party, the Shi’ia of Iraq has not been represented in the government of Iraq. They have been treated as outsiders. I’m not going to bore with more History, but it’s out there to read.

We cannot end a Civil War. In fact, we still haven’t come to complete terms with our own Civil War 142 years later! We’ve got to bring in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to help solve the problem we have created. It is in all of their best interests that a stable Iraq exists in the Middle East, and only they can help put and end to the violence. We can’t! Go to Richardson’s website and read his position on Iraq. I’ll make it easy, just click on the following link: http://www.richardsonforpresident.com/issues/iraq To read more about Bill Richardson’s “Surging” candidacy, take a look at John Nichol’s piece in “The Nation” http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071008/nichols What separates Richardson from the other candidates is that he knows the Middle East and the “Middle Eastern Mind.” As a negotiator and US Ambassador to the United Nations, Richardson has hands-on experience, while the other candidates have none. The only other candidate who understands the situation and has offered the only way that Iraq can succeed is Joe Biden. Understanding the history of Iraq, the only successful solution for a stable government is a Federation of the Sunni, Shi’ia and the Kurds. It’s the only way that Iraq can succeed as a stable country. But before that can happen, we have to leave and allow the Iraqi people to find the solution themselves. It’s like teaching your child how to ride a bike. There comes a moment in time when you let go and allow that child to ride the bike on his or her own!