Who Voted To Arm Syrian Terrorists-- And Who Voted Not To?

Last night John Amato and I went to the first of two rallies in L.A. this weekend meant to help turn out Democratic voters. The main speaker was Alan Grayson and he was out here supporting CA-33 progressive Democrat Ted Lieu. Without any doubt, the biggest reactions came when Grayson explained why he was one of the leaders of the fight against arming and training the so-called "moderate" Syrian terrorists-- the tragic McKeon Amendment that passed the House Wednesday, 273-156. Grayson went on for 45 inspired minutes on all the reasons why this policy is wrong and destined to fail on so many levels. Ted Lieu concurred and said that had he been in Congress last week, he would also have voted against it. "If the U.S. was unwilling to arm so called 'moderate' Syrian rebels two years ago when they were stronger and fighting only Assad, it makes little strategic sense to arm them now when they are weaker and fighting two enemies, Assad and Isil," explained Ted. "I have a strong fear these rebels will lose and U.S. weapons will end up in the hands of our enemies, AGAIN."

I was on the phone this morning with Rob Zerban, the progressive Democrat running against Paul Ryan, as he was driving home from the Walworth County Democratic Party's new office. Ryan, who has as little comprehension of foreign affairs as he does of budget matters, voted to arm the same "moderate" terrorists who sold one of the American journalists to ISIS-- hey, everyone needs to make a buck, something Ryan feels very passionately about. The Wisconsin delegation was split on the vote. Progressive champions Mark Pocan and Gwen Moore were out front in their opposition. Republicans Tom Petri, Jim Sensenbrenner, Reid Ribble and Sean Duffy-- one of the only times he's ever broken with Ryan on anything-- also voted against the naive and ill-fated amendment. In the Senate, Tammy Baldwin voted NO as well. The only members of the Wisconsin delegation to vote for it were deranged war-monger and Military Industrial Complex shill Ron Johnson plus the two worst corporate whores in the House delegation, New Dem Ron Kind and, of course, Ryan. I asked Zerban how he would have voted had he been in Congress Wednesday.

I would have voted no. Providing more arms to a region embroiled in conflict is not the correct course of action to reduce and minimize the loss of life. History has proven over and over when the U.S. provides arms the blowback and harm that is caused is greater than the desired outcome.

The progressive Democrat running in WA-08, east and north of Seattle, Jason Ritchie-- like Zerban, running in a winnable swing district Obama took that the DCCC is ignoring-- told us he would have voted against the McKeon amendment. Washington needs his kind of independent-minded leadership more than most states. Of the whole state House delegation, only Jim McDermott had the guts and the good sense to stand up to the Establishment and vote NO. All the little party hack zombies-- Rick Larsen (New Dem), Jaime Herrera Beutler ®, Denny Heck (New Dem), Adam Smith (New Dem), Doc Hastings ®, Suzan DelBene (New Dem), Cathy McMorris Rodgers ®, Derek Kilmer (New Dem), and Reichert ®-- need to see what happens when you get another person who thinks for himself in the delegation. Ritchie:

My opponent, Rep Reichert's, vote to arm Syrian terrorists is absolutely wrong. Giving these terrorists weapons will come back to haunt the American people. There is no oversight or control of these weapons. Reichert is shortsighted and arrogant if he thinks that more killing will solve this problem.

Wasting American taxpayer money on another foreign military venture is wrong. The American people demand infrastructure reinvestment at home. We need roads, bridges and new schools not more bombs.

Republicans like Reichert love to bomb but they have no idea how to create middle-class living wage jobs.

Grayson refers to these endless wars in the Middle East that Cheney started as a "War on Error" and he points out that among the "accomplishments" we have

• spent four trillion dollars on the War in Iraq alone, which is roughly eight percent of our entire national net worth, thereby wrecking our economy,
• killed 8000 American soldiers and contractors, and left around 15% of all US troops serving in Iraq with permanent brain abnormalities, and
• killed somewhere between 100,000 and 1,000,000 Iraqis, and made millions of Iraqis and Afghans homeless refugees.

I have always felt that if our goal is to foil Al Qaeda attacks in the United States, there probably are more efficient ways to accomplish that goal than military occupation of two foreign countries-– two foreign countries that Al Qaeda isn’t even in (as General Petraeus pointed out a couple of years ago).

But we seem to be having a lot of difficulty ending wars, lately. So my modest proposal is that instead of ending the war, we replace it.  We replace the War on Terror with the War on Error.

And-– I must say – the War on Error is a very target-rich environment.  Let’s start with the error that Saddam Hussein was targeting the United States with weapons of mass destruction. Smoking gun, mushroom cloud, etc., etc.  Certainly, that was an error.  Some say an honest mistake, others a lie. No matter. We declare a War on Error, and achieve a quick victory by bringing the troops home.

Then we have this bizarre notion that if we keep stuffing our money into the pockets of Big Business, we might get some of it back. That is a big, big error. It’s not going to happen. Believe me, if corporate welfare could reduce joblessness in America, our unemployment rate already would be minus-56 percent. Corporate income taxes in America have been cut from $354 billion in 2006 to $191 billion in 2010. Then there was the $700 billion in bailouts by the Treasury. Then there was the $15 trillion or so in other bailouts. And how many private sector jobs has all that private sector candy created?

Apparently, none. There are one million fewer private sector jobs in America today than there were ten years ago. Despite the fact that there are 27 million more people in America today.

Corporate welfare doesn’t work. For sure, it doesn’t put people to work. It’s an error to think that it does. Ending corporate welfare will be a huge conquest in the War on Error.

Blue America candidates support peace, not war-- and not harebrained schemes to ease us into wars. Compare the Blue America candidates and their stands with their Republican opponents, a bunch of lockstep warmongers. Aside from Paul Ryan, House members David Joyce (OH), Tom Rice (SC), Dave Reichert (WA), Fred Upton (MI) and John Kline (MN) all voted to arm the Syrians Wednesday. There's only one way to end policies like that: defeat the congressmembers who vote for them and replace them with candidates who do not. You can do that here.

One last thought, the so-called "moderates" Paul Ryan, David Joyce, Dave Reichert, Tom Rice, Fred Upton and John Kline all voted to train and arm are absolutely committed to the destruction of Israel. Are they going to claim ignorance when those weapons are turned on Jews living next to Syria?