Robert Byrd:A High Price for a Hollow Victory [Speech by Sen. Robert Byrd]

[truthisfreedom]

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0311/S00041.htm
Robert Byrd: A High Price for a Hollow Victory
Thursday, 6 November 2003, 7:08 am
Speech: U.S. Senator




A High Price for a Hollow Victory

Speech By West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd
via t r u t h o u t.org
Monday 03 November 2003

Senator Byrd delivered the following remarks as the Senate debated whether to grant final Congressional approval to the President's $87 billion funding request for the military and Iraqi reconstruction.

*********

The Iraq supplemental conference report before the Senate today has been widely described as a victory for President Bush. If hardball politics and lock-step partisanship are the stuff of which victory is made, then I suppose the assessments are accurate. But if reasoned discourse, integrity, and accountability are the measures of true victory, then this package falls far short of the mark.

In the end, the President wrung virtually every important concession he sought from the House-Senate conference committee. Key provisions that the Senate had debated extensively, voted on, and included in its version of the bill - such as providing
half of the Iraq reconstruction funding in the form of loans instead of grants - were thrown overboard in the conference agreement. Senators who had made compelling arguments on the Senate floor only days earlier to limit American taxpayers' liability by providing some of the Iraq reconstruction aid in the form of loans suddenly reversed their position in conference and bowed to the power of the presidency.

Before us today is a massive $87 billion supplemental appropriations package that commits this nation to a long and costly occupation and reconstruction of Iraq, and yet the collective wisdom of the House and Senate appropriations conference that produced it was little more than a shadow play, choreographed to stifle dissent and rubber stamp the President's request.

Perhaps this take-no-prisoners approach is how the President and his advisers define victory, but I fear they are fixated on the muscle of the politics instead of the wisdom of the policy. The fact of the matter is, when it comes to policy, the Iraq supplemental is a monument to failure.

Consider, for example, that before the war, the President's policy advisers assured the American people that Iraq would largely be able to finance its own reconstruction through oil revenues, seized assets, and increased economic productivity.

The $18 billion in this supplemental earmarked for the reconstruction of Iraq is testament to the fallacy of that prediction. It is the American taxpayer, not the Iraqi oil industry, that is being called upon to shoulder the financial burden of rebuilding Iraq.

<snip>
Victory is not always about winning. Sometimes, victory is simply about being right. This conference report does not reflect the right policy for Iraq or the right policy for America. I oppose it and I will vote No on final passage.

[goforit]

1. You tell them Byrd!!!!.......You are the best!!!!

Never let your hair down!!!!

[9215]

2. I like Byrd, but, IMO, he

is missing the point about this package. Bush does not care about "policy" wins or failures. Bush can shift and move onto another topic with the shit-brain press following along like puppies, keep changing the subject, start a new war, avoid traitorgate, Enron, Iraq lies, "cakewalks" turned into slogs, hiding the war dead,......everything. We could have 10,000 to 50,000 casualties at the rate we are going and no one would even know. Each funeral would be its own hermetically sealed little emotional event with people crying and blathering about the costs of fighting terror. Narrow, circumscribed, ignorant and anonymous people with a tape from the cathode ray tube running endlessly in their fuckbrains showing them how to deal with each situation.


Wars, even pre-emptive ones, aren't declared and nobody cares. Policy is irrelevant, victory is irrelevant,costs are irrelevant, ALL of it is irrelevant except the profits made from the war. 70% of the shitbrain, ultra-shitbrain, and otherwise non-thinking public think that Bush is leading us in a hard fight against terrorism and that Saddamn Hussein is behind 9/11. The "cakewalk" turned into a "long, hard fight" and this mindless, spineless, good-for nothing but prime time horseshit population haven't changed their assessment of him one iota, they still, buy their shit, spend three hours a day in front of a fucking mirror putting on makeup, take their sleepy downers, and peppy uppers and move along. The publics memories have been vaporized. This IS "1984". This deception is EXACTLY what Bush wanted and he got it and Henry Kissinger stating that if we fail in Iraq "the enemy will follow us" capitalized on the BS about Saddam being behind 9/11. People in this country really, really, really believe that Iraq could attack us. That is what little they know about the situation. They are so perfectly mallible that I got to almost praise the Repug mind control assholes for a job well done.

The fascists have the country by the balls and when they squeeze the people who they want to jump, jump. Even when they don't squeeze the Press turns somersaults to please their corporate directors with more Bush the avenging leader bullshit.


"Circus dogs jump when the trainer cracks his whip”, wrote George Orwell of journalists under dictatorships, “but”, he went on to say about journalists in “democratic” societies, “the really well-trained dog is the one that turns his somersault when there is no whip".

I used to waver between contempt and pity for the miserable bastards plodding along each day in their dumb ass circumscribed existence. Now it is mostly the former I feel.

[TahitiNut]

3. Not LBN

"Monday 03 November 2003" ... isn't less than 12 hours old.

Rules for Posting in the Latest Breaking News Forum

Thousands of people use the DU Latest Breaking News forum as their primary source for news. Please do not "dilute" the forum by starting threads that are not news.

Please be aware of the following restrictions when posting in Latest Breaking News:

1. NO opinion pieces, editorials, or other stories that are not news.


2. NO news that is more than 12 hours old.


3. NO duplicate posts of stories that have already been posted.


4. NO polls, petitions, or other action items.


5. All of our other rules for posting apply as well, including copyright rules.


6. When posting articles, please use the published title of the article as the title of the discussion thread.


7. Discussion of Israeli/Palestinian issues is not permitted in the Latest Breaking News forum, and instead must be posted in the Israeli/Palestinian Affairs forum. If, however, the news item is primarily about U.S. policy in Israeli/Palestinian affairs, you may post it in the Latest Breaking News forum.

If your message is not Latest Breaking News, you should post it in the General Discussion Forum or in one of the other forums.

Be aware that we delete discussion threads from the Latest Breaking News Forum that do not fulfill these requirements. We will not move them to another forum. We will not send you a message explaining where your post went. Thank you for your understanding.

I'm locking this thread.

Thank you for your continued cooperation,
TahitiNut - DU moderator