The Iraq spending bill

According to a May 24, 2007 Houston Chronicle report: —

The [Iraq spending bill] funds the war through September as Bush wanted and does not set a date for troop withdrawals. In exchange for dropping restrictions on the military, Bush agreed to some $17 billion in spending added by Democrats to fund domestic and military-related projects.

A compromise, if you will ...

This compromise is the direct opposite to what the people say they want. The Democratic sweep of November '06 happened for many reasons but the main reason was to put an end to this war. It was clear. There is no ambiguity about it. With the compromise in this bill we are guaranteed indefinite war in Iraq. In between the compromise makers in the Democratic party and the criminals in the Republican party are the men and women in uniform (and their families) and the innocent people of Iraq who are being killed in horrible numbers.

So what does this mean for to the people of the United States and Iraq? It means that this war continues indefinitely. The daily body counts will continue for our soldiers and the morgues will continue to fill up with Iraqi civilians.

If congress agrees to stop funding the war the democrats are afraid that people will say that they didn't fund the troops. But aren't the people, us? Are the Democrats basically saying that they don't trust us to stand by them if they make the tough decision? Do we give them reason to not believe that the people will stand up for what we all say we believe in, which is an end to this war?

They may have a point. The people of the United States have been known to be fickle and have extremely short memories. We are quick to criticize and slow to get up and support the things we say we believe in. (Mostly I think that this is because we wish that we weren't being bothered by the whole thing. It's so complicated and we would rather just figure out the mess in our own lives than deal with the mess "over there.") So, are our governmental representatives not hearing us when we say want an end to this war, or do they just know us? Do they know that we will absolutely be swayed by the rhetoric put out by the White House, The GOP, Fox, and other wings of the media? Do they know that we will turn on them on a dime with the story that they don't support the troops?

Would we stand by our elected officials when the images came back of even more dead troops and the president saying they are dying because they didn't have the money to get the things they needed to protect them. On the surface the whole thing is disingenuous but this is something to think about. Where will we stand when and if those images were plastered all over the TV and newspapers?

I guess this post is to say that we need to be the back bone for our congress. We have to figure out a way to let our representatives know that we will stand by them if they do the right thing. That we won't abandon them when the president and his cohorts call them cowards. That fulfilling our mandate will get them re-elected and the reverse will get them "sent packing."

So, how do we do that?