Molly Ivins: Stand Up Against the Surge

[Briar]

Stand Up Against the Surge

The purpose of this old-fashioned newspaper crusade to stop the war is not to make George W. Bush look like the dumbest president ever. People have done dumber things. What were they thinking when they bought into the Bay of Pigs fiasco? How dumb was the Egypt-Suez war? How massively stupid was the entire war in Vietnam? Even at that, the challenge with this misbegotten adventure is that WE simply cannot let it continue.

It is not a matter of whether we will lose or we are losing. We have lost. Gen. John P. Abizaid, until recently the senior commander in the Middle East, insists that the answer to our problems there is not military. "You have to internationalize the problem. You have to attack it diplomatically, geo-strategically," he said.

...

A surge is not acceptable to the people in this country — we have voted overwhelmingly against this war in polls (about 80 percent of the public is against escalation, and a recent Military Times poll shows only 38 percent of active military want more troops sent) and at the polls.
We know this is wrong. The people understand, the people have the right to make this decision, and the people have the obligation to make sure our will is implemented.

...

We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge. If you can, go to the peace march in Washington on Jan. 27. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, "Stop it, now!"


http://www.creators.com/opinion/molly-ivins.html

[Tanuki]

1. Blessings to Molly! She is struggling with the 3rd recurrence of

breast cancer, yet she has the strength and determination to continue fighting the good fight and write words that inform and inspire us all, often with inimitable wit and style. She is such a treasure. Let's win this one for all of us, but especially for Molly!

[Mrs. Ted Nancy]

2. Molly nails it again!!

If our democracy is going to survive, people are going to have to protest peacefully and LOUDLY. Bush may think he is "the decider", but 80% of the three-hundred million people in this nation are against him.

Either by massive protest or impeachment, Bush and Cheney need to leave office soon and in shame.