Sue Coe Wheel of War 2004 mixed media drawing on board 12.5" x 8.5"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday defied President George W. Bush, voting to impose a September 1, 2008, deadline for withdrawing all American combat troops from Iraq.

Ummm, . . . .

Am I supposed to get excited? Did you see that end date? Almost five months after the Congressional election which was essentially a referendum to end the Iraq war House Democrats were finally able to rouse themselves from their criminal political lethargy long enough to (almost) agree on a resolution which (sorta) says we should withdraw (note: it says "combat troops") by September 1, 2008. That "deadline" is almost two years after the election and five and a half years after this disastrous war of aggression began. Not surprisingly, there are all kinds of ifs and buts in the agreement, and apparently nothing has to be done this year, so Bush can continue to send additional troops.

Anything can happen when this Executive gets to make the decisions for another eighteen months; think of the all the things he/it could engineer to make support for a continuation, even an escalation of this war entirely likely.

In any event, the White House has already said Bush will veto such a bill should the Senate manage to cooperate with the House resolution and one finds its way to his desk.

By the end of this year, if not sooner, the war will belong to the Democrats as much as the Republicans, and I'll wager that since the oil and permanent bases secured by this Administration now belong to both parties we're never going to leave Iraq.

I used to think the only solution was the impeachment of both the President and VIce-President, followed by their successful criminal prosecution. Now I'm thinking that even that unlikely (but not inconceivable) scenario probably wouldn't change anything at all in the Middle East.

[image from artnet courtesy of Galerie St. Etienne]