Dennis Kucinich is a Maverick

As the bowtie attests to, Dennis Kucinich knows PR.Ron Paul is the most mavericky (read that story if you haven't yet.) in our static and worthless government, and Dennis Kucinich is the second most mavericky.  John McCain is not a maverick, and is probably nothing more than a soulless talking meat puppet.  Anyways, here is Kucinich's take on the Obama Administration's taking a page from the George W. Bush playbook:

Who is in charge of our operations in Iraq, now? George Orwell? A war based on lies continues to be a war based on lies. Today, we have a war that is not a war, with combat troops who are not combat troops. In 2003, President Bush said 'Mission Accomplished'. In 2010, the White House says combat operations are over in Iraq, but will leave 50,000 troops, many of whom will inevitably be involved in combat-related activities. 

Just seven days ago, General Babaker Shawkat Zebari, the commander of Iraq’s military, said that Iraq’s security forces will not be trained and ready to take over security for another 10 years. One story is being told to the military on the ground in Iraq and another story is being told to their families back home. 

 

You can’t be in and out at the same time.

 

This is not the end of the war; this is simply a new stage in the campaign to lull the American people into accepting an open-ended presence in Iraq. This is not an honest accounting to the American people and it diminishes the role of the troops who will put their lives on the line. This is not fair to the troops, their families or the American people. 

 

The Administration and the Pentagon would be wise to level with the American people about our long-term commitment to Iraq. 

 

The cost of the wars has been estimated to be around $1 million per soldier per year. Each year the troop levels stay at 50,000 means another $50 billion is wasted. I object to spending billions of dollars to maintain a charade in Iraq while our own economy is failing and over 15 million Americans are out of work. I object to keeping any level troops in Iraq to maintain a war based on lies. It is time that Congress sees through the manipulation and finally acts to truly end the war by stopping its funding.

I believe it was the original maverick, John McCain himself, who said we'd be in Iraq for the next fifty years.  Tom Wolfe recently seemed to imply it would be close to a millenium.  Yes.  It's called Status-of-Forces.  The U.S. still has troops in Japan.  And the Korean War is still going on.  The U.N. Security Council is still comprised of WWII victors.  Saddam Hussein didn't play ball, so we SOFAed his country.  The real trick from here on out will be getting the Iraqis to do what we want so we can wash our hands of it. 

 

It is insulting to pretend that we're not at war in Iraq, but necessary if we want to increase our overseas territory.  After all, we live in a country where leaders are elected by popular vote, and a well-informed Joe's vote counts just as much as those votes of the one-in-five Americans who believe Obama is a muslim.  Sarah Palin's fans on Facebook have the same right-to-vote as the most distinguished university professor.  This is why the founders of the Republic founded a Republic, where the people were not granted the right to directly elect their supreme leader.  As it is, the Dems are hurting, and some good PR might help in November.  Don't be that guy, Kucinich.