A Change In Climate
Last night the Dixie Chicks swept the Grammy awards, winning every category they were nominated for, including Song, Record and Album of the Year. Today's papers are describing it as a sweet vindication after they were shunned by their country music world for speaking out against Bush and the war in Iraq in 2003.
The standing ovations the Chicks received Sunday illustrated how much the political climate has changed regarding the Iraq war, and even Bush.
I think the ever-descending poll numbers help illustrate that too. When I watched the Chicks documentary Shut Up and Sing I was shocked to see the flashbacks to 2003 and the amount of hostility that was shown towards anyone who dared to speak out against the President and the war. I had forgotten just how successful the Bush administration had been in instilling fear in this country in order to make war more palatable.
The mood of the nation has radically changed since then. The President was wrong. He failed our nation by sending our troops into a war for which he had not planned. He failed our troops by sending them to war without the protection they required. He continues to fail our nation by ignoring the truth, the generals, his own advisors, a bi-partisan commission, the Congress and the American people.
In November, when Americans went to the polls they voted for a new direction by electing Democratic majorities in both the House and the Senate. And as Speaker Pelosi has said, no where do we want a new direction more than in Iraq. So Congress is getting to work to make that desire a reality. Since the new Congress has been in session they have held 52 separate hearings on issues related to the war in Iraq.
Today the House of Representatives will take up a resolution in response to the President's plan to increase the number of troops on the ground in Iraq. The resolution will read:
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That—(1) Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States Armed Forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honorably in Iraq; and
(2) Congress disapproves of the decision of President George W. Bush announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq.
A simple rebuke of the President's plan for escalation that shows the Congress' disapproval. Debate will commence tomorrow morning, and every member will be given the chance to speak.
We've come a long way since those early days of 2003, and we had to fight hard for the new majorities that put us in a position to finally take action. In taking the reigns from the rubber-stamp Republican Congress we can finally begin to take the long overdue first steps towards ending this war and bringing our troops home.
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