Syria: "It's Simply Not Our Problem"

Outspoken Congressman (D.-Fla.) Alan Grayson came out strongly against a Syrian strike on the PBS NewsHour today:




From the Washington Post, here's the latest count, as of 6 p.m. today, of Senators and Representatives - click to enlarge:

It's very curious, isn't it fellas, that many more Republicans than Democrats are opposed to this military strike, even though perennial-hawk Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham ("who never saw a country they weren't tempted to bomb"), as well as House Speaker John Boehner and others in the Republican leadership, are all in favor of it. Can it really be that the party of "Shock and Awe" is opposed to this act of war just because Obama thought of it first?

Your Head Trucker is still unsure, by the way, of the best course of action; but he is certain there is no good one.

And before all you boys rush over to sign the petition at dontattacksyria.com, please be sure to read this short piece by Steve Coll in this week's New Yorker, "Crossing the Line" - excerpt:

Saddam first used gas bombs [in 1987] to thwart Iran’s zealous swarms of “human wave” infantry. Chemical terror broke the will of young Iranian volunteers, a lesson that informed Majid’s subsequent Kurdish campaign. The Reagan Administration’s decision to tolerate Saddam’s depravities proved to be a colossal moral failure and strategic mistake; it encouraged Saddam’s aggression and internal repression, and it allowed Iraq to demonstrate to future dictators the tactical value of chemical warfare.

The consequences of similar passivity in Syria now are unknowable. After more than two years and a hundred thousand deaths, the war has descended into a miasma of kidnappings, executions, and indiscriminate attacks. It would not be surprising if Assad or his henchmen seized upon selective gassings as a way to break the opposition’s will, or to flush rebels from strategic neighborhoods. Obama has said that his aim in Syria is to prevent more gassings, not to overthrow Assad. Since the costs of even a limited Western military intervention in Syria might be very high, in diplomatic standing and in lives, it is reasonable to ask whether the cause of punishing and deterring the use of chemical weapons is worth the risks. . . .

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reports that the number of Syrians who have fled their war-torn country has now topped 2 million. That's a tenth of the Syrian population, says the Pew Research Center, and half of them are children.



For more videos and interviews with refugees, see The Guardian's coverage here.

Stating the Obvious

In an earlier time - before all the hippified 70's psychobabble people eliminated the word shame from the public vocabulary in this country - Americans would have felt embarrassed to have the world witness the insane clown car spectacle that is the Republican party - which is glaringly obvious even to outsiders, as witness Fidel Castro's observation this week:

The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is — and I mean this seriously — the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been.

I couldn't have said it better myself.


Update:  Alan Grayson, former Democratic Congressman from Florida, as usual gets right to the point about Gingrich's racist campaign:




And the stats he presents here are both eye-opening as well as nauseating:

The War Is Making You Poor Act

This country is spending $549 billion this year on the military budget, and the Administration has requested another $159 billion on top of that to continue what we're doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.   Which is about half of all the military spending by every country on the face of the earth.  And what is that accomplishing?

(Seriously - and I am not going to get into a screaming match with anyone on this issue - but after nine years, exactly what is the freaking point, what exactly are we getting or trying to get from occupying those places?  You should understand that I admire very much the bravery and skill and sense of honor that keeps individual soldiers there, doing their job and following orders - that's not the question.  What essential national-level good are we doing, what good are we getting from spending all that money and blood, is what I would really like to know.  If there is any good to be had.  If any Blue Truck readers can answer the question directly in 100 words or less, please hit the comment button.)

Rep. Alan Grayson, D-FL, has introduced a bill in Congress to address the monumental drain on our economy, and give many of you a zero income tax bill next year - check it out:



God, I wish he was my Congressman. 

As Joe Jervis says, "Not a chance in hell of passing, but at least somebody is screaming about war spending."

Grayson: Republicans Have Nothing Left but Fear and Hatred

What a MAN.  Tell it like it is, Alan:



"It's time to get rid of Republicans entirely" from public office.  Damn straight.

Which of course won't happen.  But it is a lovely thought that perhaps one day the GOP might be replaced by a party of decent conservatives - rather than the circus parade of fools, fascists, and fundamentalists that are the current Republican party and are patently unfit to govern.

Keep Grayson in Congress:  contribute to his "money bomb" website here.


Honk to Joe.My.God.