Let Him Hang


I was fortunate not to hear Bush's speech Wednesday, but I was a but curious when I heard he was going to admit a mistake. I wondered, could the loss of Congress been enough to make him see that the Iraq war was a mistake and that some plan for pulling our soldiers out and getting either the Iraqis or some other international force in thier place.

Instead we hear that the only mistake Bush made was not sending more troops and he announces that he'll be sending more of our soldiers there as part of a "surge". To anyone who's not blindly following the "Sheepdogs" of AM-Radio and its cable news affiliate, it should be obvious the only thing this "surge" will lead to; wider violence, more terrorism and perhaps a civil war expanding into a regional conflict.

Now at least the Democrats, realizing that the 2006 elections were a referendum on the Iraq War, are positioning themselves to fight back. But what they need to also realize is the best strategy may be to simply let Bush "Hang himself" and the GOP with him. But they're gonna need to make sure that the rope is short.

To start with, there need to be open hearings on the intelligence that Bush used to scare Congress and so many of the American people; study after study has exposed Bush's claims of WMD and ties to Al-Quaeda as lies. Bringing these lies to light would not only unravel the web of fear that Bush trapped so many Americans in but also show how Bush may be little more than a mouthpiece for the Neo-Imperilaists.

The next step would be to take Bushs "carte blance" powers away. Rep. Ted Kennedy(D-MA) has legislation that would do just this pending, and support for this from the "Net Roots" community would be a way to send a message not only to Bush but to Democrats.

But perhaps even this needs more teeth. Why not simply make any allocations of troops or funds contingent on "checkpoints" being reached by the Iraqis. A kind of "Show us the money" idea.

I realize the presidental elections are less than two years away, but accelerating Bush's political suicide would make things a lot easier for the right Democrat that can reach not only the "Net Root" base of the party but also reach undecides, and then we can get on the path of returing America to the beacon of democracy it was.