War in Iraq May Drain Bush's 'Political Capital' Before He Can Spend It
by Tom Andrews
THE BRUTAL DESTRUCTION OF FALLUJA in order to "save" it and a recently published report that hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children are suffering from acute malnutrition--an affliction that has doubled since the US invasion--are just two of the many compelling reasons that stopping the Bush Administration's war in Iraq is a moral imperative. The leadership required to meet this imperative will not come from Democrats in Congress. It will come from a focused, determined and relentless antiwar movement.
In addition to being a moral calling, a mass movement to end the war could deter the Administration's assault on the principles and values we cherish. It has been said that some of the good things President Lyndon Johnson hoped to achieve with his "Great Society" became casualties of the Vietnam War. Likewise, George W. Bush's capacity to do many bad things at home and abroad could be diminished by his war in Iraq.
Exit polls showed that Americans are deeply divided on Bush's war. A plurality believes that the war in Iraq is not making America safer. The daily diet of horrific images from Iraq will only push the number of disaffected Americans upward, causing discomfort among prowar members of Congress. Add to this the increasing chorus of antiwar voices from the Republican coalition, and Karl Rove has something to worry about.
The Bush war in Iraq presents an opportunity for progressive organizing. The invasion and occupation of Iraq outraged millions of soon-to-be activists and contributors, swelling the campaign coffers and volunteer ranks of progressive organizations and Democratic political campaigns. This network of supporters and activists--1 million of whom called or faxed the Senate in a single day before the invasion--represents a powerful political force that could make it difficult for Bush to drum up the funds and the troops to "stay the course" in Iraq. Now is the time for this movement to mount vigorous opposition to the Administration's request for as much as an additional $75 billion for the Iraq war, and to the nomination of an Attorney General who believes that the torture exposed at Abu Ghraib is perfectly legal and that treaties like the Geneva Convention are "obsolete."
These battles are opportunities to provide an increasingly skeptical public with a new narrative about the US military occupation of Iraq, starting with why there is no military solution. They are also opportunities to build strong coalitions in Congressional districts across the country, including labor, clergy, students, city and town councils, neighborhood organizations and all groups who are watching the day-to-day impact of a federal government squandering resources needed at home. There is an opportunity to build alliances with "unusual suspects," including antiwar conservatives and Republicans.
Perhaps most important, there is an opportunity to forge working partnerships with veterans of the Iraq war and their families as well as reservists, National Guardsmen and -women and the families of the victims of 9/11 who reject the idea that the war in Iraq is making anyone safer from terrorism. I would like to see former prisoners of war confront President Bush's nominee for Attorney General not only with the immorality of his infamous memos linked to Abu Ghraib but with the fact that an "obsolete" Geneva Convention is a threat to every American who is wearing, or ever will wear, their nation's uniform.
Finally, the Bush war in Iraq presents progressives with an obligation and an opportunity to act locally and globally. Speaking about the UN in the wake of the US-led invasion of Iraq, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recently said: "We have reached a fork in the road. This may be a moment no less decisive that 1945 itself, when the UN was founded." It is time to reach out and work with progressives around the world, starting with those from member nations of the US-led Iraq coalition.
There is a moral imperative to ending the Bush war in Iraq. There is also an important opportunity to drain the "political capital" President Bush believes he has accumulated, before he is able to spend it.
Tom Andrews is the national director of Win Without War.
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