Politics as usual

Started by joew94th, 05/10/2004 06:31AM
Posted 05/10/2004 06:31AM Opening Post
Well, the disgust over the treatment of Iraqi POWs doesn't seem to deter the political engine in Washington. It seems that many democrats won't even agree that the acts are deplorable:

OpinionJournal from the Wall Street Journal
James Taranto, May 7, 2004

The House passed a nonbinding resolution yesterday "deploring the abuse of persons in United States custody in Iraq." You'd think this would be something everyone could agree on, but the vote in favor was only 365-50. Of the 50 "no" votes, one came from Rep. Ron Paul, an eccentric libertarian Republican from Texas who often votes against congressional resolutions, especially on foreign policy.

The other 49 were all from Democrats, and by our quick scan almost all of them come from the left-wing fringe of the party, such as John Conyers, Barney Frank, Dennis Kucinich, Barbara Lee, Jim McDermott, Nancy Pelosi, Charles Rangel, Pete Stark, Maxine Waters. Are these folks in favor of abusing Iraqi prisoners?

Well, maybe not. The resolution, summarized here, actually has two parts:

Deploring the abuse of persons in United States custody in Iraq, regardless of the circumstances of their detention, urging the Secretary of the Army to bring to swift justice any member of the Armed Forces who has violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice, expressing the deep appreciation of the Nation to the courageous and honorable members of the Armed Forces who have selflessly served, or are currently serving, in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and for other purposes.

So do the 49 Democrats object to honoring the "courageous and honorable members of the Armed Forces"? Some may, but from browsing the debate transcript in the Congressional Record (link in PDF), it appears those who object do so mainly on two grounds: that the resolution does not call for a congressional investigation of the abuses, and that it does not cast blame widely enough--that is, it does not condemn military leaders, contractors and others who may or may not have been involved, as well as the known perpetrators of the abuse.

Both these points are arguable, but the resolution takes no position on either of them. Out of frustration that their colleagues aren't prepared to take as hard a line as they would, then, 49 Democrats have effectively gone on record supporting the abuse of prisoners and announcing their lack of appreciation for the troops. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Posted 05/10/2004 07:51AM #1
A vote against any bill does not necessarily mean that the voter is for the opposite cause. To use your own words, that type of logic is "Politics as usual".

There are only 10 kinds of people who understand binary - those that do and those that don't