Recently, I received an email letter from Howard Dean on behalf of the Democratic Party. He said the Democrats are "ready to act." He wants me to write my local newspaper to voice opposition to the President’s troop increase for Iraq. This is what I wrote back.
Dear Howard,
I disagree with your bold contention that the Democrats are ready to act. If they were, they would have immediately gone on the offensive to begin proceedings to impeach George W. Bush. The man is a criminal by law. He has broken and bent the laws of our land. He and the neo-cons are destroying the Constitution or at the very least riding roughshod over it. And the Democrats are letting him! We are not talking about clumsy mistakes - of which he makes plenty - but the President, Vice President and his Cabinet have lied to the people and Congress. Maybe you and our newly elected Democratic Congress don't get that but the people who elected this new congress do.
So it seems to me the first order of business would be impeachment proceedings but Nancy Pelosi says that is not on the agenda, consequently the man in the White House and his fellow crooks are emboldened. Now this is what will happen: Your Democratic Congress, many of whom rubber stamped Bush’s previous lies to America, will now attempt to block his escalation of the war. They will fail. And what's amazing is, the Democrats, as you say, think they have reason to be “upbeat.” They can't see the forest for the trees. This never-really-elected President will again be empowered by his victory over Congress and do still more damage. He will put more troops in Iraq and this bloody war will drag on. More children will die, more families be uprooted, more villages destroyed and more American service people will die and be grievously wounded.
Meanwhile, the issue of Israeli apartheid in Palestine, ethnic cleansing of Arabs and the oppresive Occupation in general are taboo subjects in Congress.
But the privileged members of the Senate and House, who have no children in Iraq, will continue to play politics, will not risk anything, not take any chances even though the President and his cronies are busy wrecking what is left of civilization both by war and absolutely horrid environmental policies, not to mention torture, illicit spying, detention of innocents and denial of universal right of habeas corpus. The Democrats will have failed the country once again because, with exceptions like Maurice Hinchey, Dennis Kucinich and a few others, they have not an ounce of courage - something I thought you once had. Party politics has robbed you of that. Once you spoke your mind for the truth, now you just try to strengthen the party. What a difference.
Sadly,
Tarak Kauff