Buyers Remorse? 2,000th Death

In that crazy world of hypothetical elections, a majority of Americans said that they would vote for a Democrat, instead of Bush if an election were held this year.

"In the latest poll, 55 percent of the respondents said that they would vote for the Democratic candidate if Bush were again running for the presidency this year. Thirty-nine percent of those interviewed said they would vote for Bush in the hypothetical election." [CNN]

This comes on the heels of the US losing it's 2,000th soldier in Iraq. President Bush repeated again that the best way to honor the men and women that he illegally sent to their deaths, would be to "stay the course." [CNN] [IraqiCasualties] [Yahoo] [CommonDreams]

Feingold disagrees: "Some have argued that a timetable is designed to appeal to the American public, but that it has no relationship to our security, or to achieving policy goals in Iraq. Actually, it is just the opposite – I proposed the timeframe because it has everything to do with improving our national security strategy. Our fundamental national security goal must be to combat the global terrorist networks that attacked and continue to threaten the United States. An increasing number of military experts and members of the public have concluded that our military presence in Iraq is not consistent with that goal – and that it is in fact undermining that goal. It's becoming increasingly clear that we have created a breeding ground for terrorism in Iraq and that the indefinite presence of tens of thousands of U.S. troops is often fueling, not dampening, the insurgency in that country."

Apparently, not all think that 2,000 dead is a milestone: "U.S. Army Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, director of the force's combined press center, wrote in an e-mail to reporters, "I ask that when you report on the events, take a moment to think about the effects on the families and those serving in Iraq. The 2,000 service members killed in Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom is not a milestone. It is an artificial mark on the wall set by individuals or groups with specific agendas and ulterior motives." [Ed&Pub]

This is a milestone. This president launched us into an illegal war on sovereign nation, for among many things, oil. I think it's time that we start listening to people like the good Senator Feingold, and set a timetable to withdraw from Iraq. It is not our property; it belongs to the people of Iraq, not a cabal of filthy-rich Texas oilmen and their corporations.