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Pottery Barn rule #2, and the war in Iraq
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by Mr. Chuckles, Unknown News
July 12, 2007
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| | "You are going to be the proud owner of 25 million people," [Secretary of State Colin Powell] told the president. "You will own all their hopes, aspirations, and problems. You'll own it all." Privately, Powell and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage called this the Pottery Barn rule: "You break it, you own it."
from Plan of Attack, by Bob Woodward |
Recent news reports reveal monthly Pentagon
expenditures for the Iraq War of about $10 billion.That's $10,000,000,000. Every month.
In easier to understand numbers, assuming 25 million
Iraqis are still in Iraq and still alive (down from 30 million before the American attack),
America now has the choice of either continuing to
kill Iraqis who are defending their homeland, or sending
each Iraqi a monthly check drawn against the U.S.
Treasury for four hundred dollars.
Or we could pick the 100 most
powerful Iraqi sheiks, warlords and bullshit
artistes and send each of them a monthly check for
$120 million -- in exchange for ending the war and
allowing our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to return to their families and their lives.
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Or we could just say "Fuck It! Let's cut and run
and keep the money!" -- which could buy health
insurance for the 40 million uninsured Americans or
pay college tuition for an extra 12 million
*American* youths.
The choice is ours. Or rather, the choice is the Democrats'.
Democrats control the appropriations for the
war: Zero money appropriated = war over. Period.
Do
the math if you doubt me. How long do you believe
the 160,000 U.S. contractors will continue working
once those $1,000 a day checks stop coming?
When there's any daydream of ending the occupation of Iraq, Republicans raise the threat of a filibuster, which for some reason terrifies
the Democrats. Democrats -- the majority party -- claim to be powerless in the
event that Republicans in the Senate decide to start
talking and refuse to stop.
Back in the old days,
filibustering meant that the Senator from Wall
Street or the Senator from Standard Oil actually had
to go up to the podium and talk all day, all night,
and all the next day until the other senators
decided to cave and bow to his will. But nowadays
the Senate is so danged civilized and efficient that
the majority party accepts the mere threat of a
filibuster as if it's the deed, and bows to the will of the
minority party without the formality of actually
requiring the filibusterers to do their
filibustering.
Eventually, if the Democrats continue to fund
fighting in Iraq it will be their war to lose.
President Clinton will have to listen to George Bush
sneer to reporters that she lost the Iraq War
through no fault of his own -- which he was on his
way to winning in December 2008, by the way.
This is "Pottery Barn Rule #2" for the Democrats:
"You paid for it, so it is yours."
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Eventually, if the Democrats continue to fund
fighting in Iraq it will be their war to lose.
President Clinton will have to listen to George Bush
sneer to reporters that she lost the Iraq War
through no fault of his own -- which he was on his
way to winning in December 2008, by the way.
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