New Toon: The Addict & the Enabler
I have nothing against Nancy Pelosi, but I totally disagree with her decision to push through that "anti-war" war funding bill. Congress has the power to stop this war right now if it wants to by refusing to fund it. It's nice that the spending bill includes a pullout date, but the pullout date is in September 2008, more than a year away. How many more Americans and Iraqis will be dead by then? How many more billions will we have spent on an unjust and evil war--billions that could have gone to education, health care, social services, fighting poverty, battling AIDS, you name it... ? Why are the supposedly anti-war Democrats giving Bush even that much more time to mess up Iraq, now that they finally admit how wrong this whole mess has been?
All of this seems to be wrapped up in the idea that sending more troops to die is the best way to support the troops. If you believe the war is wrong, that makes no sense. Refusing to fund the war isn't refusing to support the troops--a bill could be written that would fund only a pullout, no?
P.S. I know, I know. I realize I'm just angry and griping and idealistic, and Pelosi is just doing what she has to do, and they're aren't enough votes for an earlier pullout and Bush is most likely going to veto this thing anyway. But I'm still frustrated with the entire Congress--the vast majority of Americans have been against the war for some time now, but instead of a pullout all we've gotten is a surge.
P.P.S. Join my weekly mailing list by sending a blank message to newtoons-subscribe@mikhaela.net!
8 Comments:
Just want to say that I think your Nancy Pelosi caricature is the best I've seen from political cartoonists.
Some time ago, I read a blog post that complained about how cartoonists love to trash Pelosi, and that led me to browse Cagle and AAEC to collect some caricatures. I think your's was the most "normal."
You can see my collection here:
http://www.joshreads.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=856
Interesting link - Charles.
Mikhaela,
I'll take a symbolic antiwar bill that passes over one that doesn't pass. Never mind just bringing the troops home tomorrow - I want to go back in time and never send them.
The only bill I would ever be happy with is one that puts an end to all war - or one that at least puts an end to the ease at which an arrogant USA can go to war.
Blake--as I understand it, Bush is most likely going to veto this anyway. I'm just frustrated that even though the tide of public opinion turned so strongly against the war months and months ago, people are still dying there every day and instead of a pullout all we've gotten is an escalation.
I have to blame the public partly. A good majoruty now think the war is unwinnable and was not worth fighting, but mention cutting funding--the solution to end a war the President won't--and peaople start getting uppity about abandoning the troops, as if they will be left in the desert with just the clothes on their back...I think Rall and Dangle have done good cartoons on that.
I read a statistic that stated we've spent more money in the last 4+ years just on the war in Iraq than the amount we've spent in foreign aid over the last 30. So much for their oil money paying for the war.
And if that doesn't get your blood boiling, The Brookings Institute has a 54 page report detailing Iraq war statistics. Here's a summary of the cost breakdown:
US SPENDING IN IRAQ
Spent & Approved War-Spending - $505 billion of US taxpayers' funds. President Bush is expected to request another $100 billion in war-spending for 2007 and $140 billion for 2008, which would bring the cumulative total to over $700 billion.
Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq - $9 billion of US taxpayers' money and $549.7 million in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors
Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq - $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings
Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported - $1.4 billion
Matt, you are right--I can't find it right now, but Ted had a great cartoon about that. Obviously ending the war doesn't mean leaving the troops to fly home on their own dime, but people don't seem to get that.
Rob--those numbers are horrifying beyond belief.
I still like Sparky the Penguin's solution to use $300 billion to build a time machine so we can go back to Feb. 2003 and listen to the millions of people who said this war was a bad idea from the start.
There just isn't any good solution now.
Amen to that. We could also use that time machine to change the Supreme Court decision in Bush vs. Gore.
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