by James Glaser
August 7, 2002

We have one war going now in Afghanistan, which will require a troop commitment for several years at least. We have troops in the Republic of Georgia, the Philippines, then there is Columbia, and really who knows where else? Now we have the fake debate on attacking Iraq.

I say that this debate about Iraq is fake because Senator Joseph Biden, Chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations committee has said, "I believe there probably will be a war with Iraq. The only question is, is it alone, is it with others and how long and how costly will it be?"

So all this talk about informing the American citizen about Iraq and the options that we have is not only a bad joke, because of the fore gone conclusion, but a real waste of valuable time, that the Senate could be using on domestic issues that also need real honest debate.

These hearings, I guess are just another smoke screen that the Senate has put together to appease those that say the Congress must declare war, as the President doesn't have that power under our Constitution. Well the President has already said we are going to change the government in Iraq and now the man holding these shame hearings is saying war is only a matter of who with and how much will it cost.

That should pretty much tell Americans whose pocket Joe Biden is in. Separation of the three branches of government no longer exist is this country. The agenda was set long before these hearings started and they started with the answer to a war already decided. This is just another "Senate Show."

In a report filed by Roland Watson of the Times of London, Brent Scowcroft, our National Security Advisor during the first war with Iraq, said that invading Iraq would cause an "explosion" in the Middle East and consign the United States to defeat in its War on Terror.

Field Marshal Lord Bramall of Great Briton called on the British government to exercise caution saying that an invasion to topple Saddam may not be morally or legally justified. Lord Bramall went on to say, "You don't have license to attack someone else's country just because you don't like the leadership" Well America does!

I think Bridget Gibson has it about right when she wrote in the (Yellow Times.org) "The mid-term elections are looming ever closer. The disgraceful corporate corruption that has lined the pockets of many politician's campaigns for power is proving too great a distraction from the work at hand. Backroom meetings and off the record discussions have yielded the new marching orders: war must be made and the polls must again reflect support for George Bush's command of the machine."

Smoke screens do work and both the Republicans and Democrats have the need for such a screen this election. Everything that was the focus of the last election (Social Security, prescription drug costs, medical costs, National Debt.) are still the topics of discussion because neither party could come up with acceptable solutions to our problems.

Some how with all of this "homeland" stuff quotes from Nazi Germany keep coming to mind. This from Herman Goring at the Nuremberg Trials, "The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

At least now we know where those in Washington get their ideas.