I. Ending the Iraq War using the Spending Power
Okay, let's discuss the most pressing challenge we currently face as progressive Americans seeking to remedy the mayhem inflicted upon us (and the rest of the world) by George Bush: Our continued involvment in the Iraq War.
So, how do we end what is likely the worst foreign policy disater in the history of our country? This has been a topic of discussion, the source of heated debates, and the cause of near brawling here at Daily Kos for quite a while now. I think we have all seen many opinions as to the best or most practical way to end the war; I'll summarize a few here (in no particular order):
(1) I have seen at least a few people express the opinion (or at least strongly imply) that the only way to end the war is to Impeach the President. If I'm not mistaken (and lord knows I probably am), the rational is that George Bush will ignore any action taken by Congress and will continue the war at all costs, hence he must be removed before the war can end;
(2) I have seen several people express the opinion that the only way to end the war is to try and build some kind of consensus with a sufficient number of allegedly moderate republicans. The rational for this method is presumably two-fold: a bill ending the war will require (a) 61 votes to overcome a Senate filibuster, and more importantly, (b) 67 votes to override a certain presidential veto;
(3) The method I have come to favor is use of Congress' Spending Power to end the Iraq War. To be more precise, I really should say I favor Congress declining to use its Spending Power in order to end the war. As you may recognize, this "defunding" method was, erm . . how to put this, "championed frequently" by Armando here at the beginning of the year, and he continues to write about defunding at TalkLeft;
(4) I have seen at least one other opinion as to how the war will end. At one person (and I think a few others) are of the opinion that none of the above will come to pass, and as such, only a new president will end the war after taking office in January 2009.
In the end, those in category #4 may be correct, but I certainly hope it is not the case, and I would like to work to pressure our Congresspersons to end the war before Bush's term is up in 2009. For several reasons, I believe defunding is the best option.
How "Defunding" Works:
The short version as to why I support the "defunding" option is because, mechanically, it completely avoids the problems posed by the other options. Namely, it does not require 61 votes in the Senate to break a filibuster, nor does it require 67 votes in the Senate (and 2/3 of the House) to override a veto, nor does it require 67 votes in the Senate to Impeach. This is because of the Reconciliation process, which prevents appropriation bills from being filibustered.
In other words, all that is required to end the Iraq War is for Congress to pass appropriation bills that do not include any money for the war. Thus, what needs to happens is Congressional leadership, especially in the House (where appropriation bills originate), must simply set a date certain after which there will be no more funds and tell the world, "that's it, no more money."
Will "Defunding" Work?:
Now, I have seen many questions about and/or objections to defunding in the past. In fact, I'm pretty sure I posed several questions to Armando myself. On the issue of objections to defunding, I'm going to borrow heavily (with permission, of course) from kossack Edger who has written fairly extensively about defunding. Here is what he had to say about the ever prevalent talking points seen in the mainstream media - from talking heads, republicans, and democrats alike:
The entire debate about NOT funding the occupation of Iraq and George W. Bush's Iraq and Mid-East Debacle revolves around one piece of propaganda that has been sold to the public in one of the most heinous aggregations of misperceptions, disinformation, and outright lies ever foisted on a public that cares for the lives of the American troops sent into Iraq, of which there are huge mis-perceptions and an incredible amount of disinformation, i.e. lies, spread by republicans and democrats and trolls.
. . .
Emergency supplemental funding for a war or for an occupation is not for the troops. It never has been for the troops. It will never be for the troops.
NOT passing emergency supplemental funding does not hurt the troops. It never has hurt the troops. It will never hurt the troops.
Not passing emergency supplemental funding is simply NOT FUNDING the occupation. That is all it is.
. . .
The TROOPS are funded by regular appropriations. DOD budget. Emergency supplemental funding has nothing to do with "funding the troops".
It does buy, among other things such as logistical support from Halliburton, Parsons, and DynCorp, fuel, in theater equipment maintenance, bullets, cluster bombs, etc., etc., IOW all the "stuff" needed to continue the occupation. The troops use that "stuff" in the continuance of that occupation, and to defend themselves and stay alive (as best they can) while continuing that occupation. Defunding the occupation of Iraq and withdrawing or redeploying the troops does not hurt the troops. It helps them to stay alive.
Emergency supplemental funding is only for the occupation. When Bush says differently, or when the Democratic Leadership says differently, or when a troll here says differently.... it is a lie.
The "war" has been funded with emergency supplemental funding for years. There is plenty of money for withdrawing in regular budget without the emergency supplemental the Democrats recently passed.
Edger also pointed to this statement from Dean Baker, who is the Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research:
The latest version of the 'hide behind the troops' mode of argument is to claim that Congress lacks the ability to end the war. The story goes that President Bush is commander in chief of the armed forces, and that if he does not want to end the war, then Congress cannot force his hand. According to this argument, if Congress were to use its control of the budget to restrict funding, it would jeopardize our troops stationed in Iraq by denying them the supplies and ammunition needed to defend themselves.
This argument is garbage. Congress has the authority to require the top military commanders in Iraq to produce a plan for safely withdrawing our troops from the country. It can also require these commanders to give their best estimate of the cost of this plan. It can then appropriate this money, specifying that the funds be used for the withdrawal plan designed by the military.
One of the main objections I hear is that defunding will not work because Bush will simply keep the troops in Iraq if Congress declines to provide additional supplemental. I'm not sure I have an answer for that other than if this is what you believe, you have an obligation to explain where, exactly, Bush will come up with an extra $100 billion or so.
OK, that enough of that. Let's argue about defunding below. On to tonight's top comments!
A reminder. Please keep sending in those top comment nominations to:
topcomments[at]gmail[dot]com
II. Tonight's Top Comments
Via RiaD
(OK, this was actually a comment from yesterday, but I don't think it was submitted in time for yesterday's TC diary):
Deep thoughts from deepfish
Via tryptamine:
jessical, in my Class and Labor diary last night, hit the nail on the head when talking about the psychological issues that can lead to bad nutritional choices by poor people
Via Got a Grip:
Friend of the court has a heartfelt desire as to what should happen to BushCo in general and Rove in particular in my diary, A Turdblossom Blooms in Texas.
Via pfiore8:
4Freedom explains why Charlie Rose et al are fast becoming
irrelevant ... we render them dated and obsolete!
Via va dare:
Start with this comment - The framers took great pans to leave god - by groggy who, despite his spell-check apology, starts an hilarious, coffee-snorting thread. (The diary is titled: New Fake History Guru Stephen Mansfield Just Makes Sh*t Up by Troutfishing - hope you didn't miss it - some great history lessons in diary AND in comments.)
Via Crashing Vor:
Bouwerie Boy once again disproves the adage that nobody loves a smartass.
Via sardonyx:
ticket punch gives the setup not knowing that Bouwerie Boy is waiting to hit it out of the park in dhonig's diary Bill O'Reilly Defamed Me.
Top Mojo (thanks so much to Ambrosius!!!)
Top Mojo excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments, and C&J comments:
1) Sue the bastard. by Indexer — 166
2) The KKK is the Republican Base by FishOutofWater — 156
3) Bush's failure to confront domestic terrorism... by Troutfishing — 126
4) This is such an important story by nyceve — 101
5) Don't know what the criticism is but by Elizabeth Edwards — 99
6) Time to report the edits... by LordMike — 98
7) he has done nothing by scanman1722 — 86
8) Exactly right by Elizabeth Edwards — 84
9) Terror has been used against abortion clinics by FishOutofWater — 83
10) 5 bucks says this will be on Countdown tomorrow! by james richardson — 81
11) I hope more will recommend this by Iddybud — 79
12) Don't just report it -- change it back (nm) by MJB — 79
13) Can't We All Get Along? by John Campanelli — 78
14) Happy Humpday!! by Predictor — 77
15) I agree. by ek hornbeck — 73
16) Daily Kes by kestrel9000 — 65
17) Rest is over-rated. (N/T) by Elizabeth Edwards — 65
18) Ministry of by LindaR — 60
19) The game has been rigged against by TrueBlueCT — 59
20) Thanks, TomP. The two Americas theme is the by blue jersey mom — 58
21) Absolutely by Elizabeth Edwards — 58
22) Judgment matters AND at every step by Elizabeth Edwards — 58
23) Happy Hump Day all! :-) by Common Sense Mainer — 56
24) Another example by nuttymango — 55
25) Winston Smith by gatordem — 54
26) ... by kyril — 53
27) This is not OK by AJ WI — 51
28) Welcome Elizabeth! by NCDem Amy — 51
29) what's laughable is that they thought by thereisnospoon — 50
30) Brit Hume's page by IntertubeGuy — 50
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tip Jar by Democrashield — 585
2) Tip Jar by quaoar — 455
3) Tips, Quips, and by dhonig — 311
4) it really isn't totally whoring, since by clammyc — 300
5) Tip Jar by DJShay — 287
6) Tip jar by occams hatchet — 262
7) Do with this what you will by teacherken — 204
8) come on, 4th amendment..... by clammyc — 190
9) Sue the bastard. by Indexer — 166
10) The KKK is the Republican Base by FishOutofWater — 156
11) tips by scanman1722 — 135
12) now, aren't you convinced by Turkana — 134
13) Tips for fixing our by TomP — 133
14) Yes, I'm in a pretty bad mood by Major Danby — 131
15) Bush's failure to confront domestic terrorism... by Troutfishing — 126
16) We need to know what they did by drational — 113
17) Hadn't seen anything about this by its simple IF you ignore the complexity — 107
18) This is such an important story by nyceve — 101
19) Don't know what the criticism is but by Elizabeth Edwards — 99
20) Time to report the edits... by LordMike — 98
21) Alright! by Chris Bowers — 95
22) Psss...Over Here.... by TheManWithNoPoint — 93
23) he has done nothing by scanman1722 — 86
24) Exactly right by Elizabeth Edwards — 84
25) Terror has been used against abortion clinics by FishOutofWater — 83
26) 5 bucks says this will be on Countdown tomorrow! by james richardson — 81
27) Excellent diary! by paul minot — 80
28) I hope more will recommend this by Iddybud — 79
29) Don't just report it -- change it back (nm) by MJB — 79
30) Can't We All Get Along? by John Campanelli — 78
We have so many insightful and powerful diaries written here at Daily Kos. Our diaries inform, inflame, impassion, and even entertain. We Kossacks have strong voices and an even stronger will to be the change we wish to see in this country.
