Double Bluff: The Democrats' Pro-War Anti-War Bill

There has been much throwing about of brains on the Democrat's "bold" new proposal to "end" the onging war crime in Iraq. Anyone who still believes that these Reid-Pelosi Democrats are going to do anything to kill – or even pinch – the militarist goose whose golden eggs of loot and dominion are fattening the bipartisan plutocracy is, to put it mildly, a rock-bottom fool.

Arthur Silber does his usual excellent demolition job on this latest bit of bunkum from the "opposition" and the support it has garnered from some of our leading "progressive" lights. Silber takes the radical step of actually reading what the bill actually says, and learns that is the same old non-withdrawal withdrawal plan that we have heard from top Dems for months; i.e., it would keep thousands upon thousands of American troops in Iraq, year after year, operating from permanent bases and engaging in a vast range of military actions, including combat, "force protection," "counter-terrorism operations" and "supporting Iraqi forces."

In other words, under the Democrats' plan, Bush would achieve all of his war aims: a permanent military presence in Iraq, dominating a compliant Baghdad regime dedicated to imposing an "oil law" that will lay the conquered land's resources wide open for exploitation by Western plutocrats. More...