This podcast is a riff on the last post. It’s called “If War Is the Answer, What Was the Question?“
The Mahablog
Politics. Society. Group Therapy.
This podcast is a riff on the last post. It’s called “If War Is the Answer, What Was the Question?“
I just listened to my first podcast. It’s an interesting medium, but I prefer reading becuse reading allows me to re-read something; you have to stay focused on a podcast. My mind does not wander, it darts around erraticly.
The title “Give War a Chance” was the neocon battle cry on the talk shows on Sunday. “How can you criticize the plan without even giving it a chance?” The implication was that the spirit of bipartisanship makes it incumbent on the Democrats to use the rubber stamp for this ‘final effort’.
The escalation will happen. The hawks in Congress need to have their tail feathers held to the fire. If they think escalating the war is the answer, I have a question.
Given that the ISG described the situation in Iraq as ‘grave and deteriorating’ and the escalation plan has been justified as a ‘last effort’ and President Bush said our ‘commitment is not open-ended’ : IF the plan fails to stabilize Baghdad, will you support a binding resolution for a draw-down of troops in Iraq on a fixed schedule ?
Any hawk who can not answer YES, is holding the door open for the next ‘last effort’ and the next ‘new plan’. Meanwhile GIs will be burried and billions of taxpayer dollars will be wasted. Voters need to see that the commitment IS open-ended and foolish.
Forty years later, and we still haven’t learned a damn thing: MLK’s Riverside Church speech in 1967 was when he publicly turned against the war in Vietnam, and put it in the context of its social costs. . “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” Ironically, while Edwards quoted King on personal responsibility, he did not quote from his radical systemic critique of American capitalism, militarism and racism. King issued a challenge that still haunts us today: ” If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.”