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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (28770)	9/25/2003 9:10:33 AM
From: T L Comiskey	Respond to of 89467

Bruce Ramsey / Times editorial columnist Let the neo-cons bellow, just bring the troops home George, here's what to do in Iraq: Declare victory and bring the troops home. A senator from Vermont once suggested such a policy during the Vietnam War. It would have meant a defeat. In this case, it might mean chaos, at least for a while, unless you can get more international help. You asked for help from the U.N. That was good. Get back to them and say, "We're serious. We're on a fast track to leave." To America's soldiers, you can say: "You're fighters, not social workers. The fighting's done, excellent work, and you can start going home." Thousands of American families will thank you. To the American people, you can say: "We've changed our minds about the occupation of Iraq. We'll need only part of that $87 billion I asked for. The rest you can keep." Watch your poll numbers go up. The warrior intellectuals — the neoconservatives — will bellow. Let them. They don't have any electoral votes. The American people never bought their "neo-Wilsonian" fantasies of empire. Asserting American dominance was never your argument for war. You said Americans had to depose Saddam Hussein in order to protect themselves. That's done. Our occupation of Iraq is not yet six months old and already Iraqis are making sure that we tire of it. This will not tend to get better. An antiwar feeling has arisen in the United States, and Howard Dean, a nobody from a small state, has ridden it to the head of the pack. Dean says he wouldn't have gone to war in the first place. Few notice that Dean also says we ought to stay in Iraq to do nation-building. "Well, Howard," you can say, "I'm bringing the troops home. If you're elected, you can send them back." Would America be giving up if we did that? We would be giving up the right to reconstruct Iraq our way. We would not be giving up anything the average American cares about. Certainly, the American people would accept a change in policy. They have accepted the official story from the start — the weapons of mass destruction, the "link" between Saddam and bin Laden, the "Woman Warrior" story about Pvt. Jessica Lynch. They are not paying much attention to Iraq. They will accept a pullout. Consider the alternative: Five years of occupation. Maybe 10. Bombs, demonstrations, dead Americans. Think of the Democrats. In 2002 you beat them by offering to save America from a foreign threat. If you do that in 2004, you're going to be in trouble. Americans get tired of wars that drag on and on, and tend to toss out the political party that does the dragging. Look up the election of 1952. Also 1968. Ask your dad about the political shelf-life of military victory. It is less than one year. Think of the economy. Business has been terrible since you became president. The people have been pretty forgiving about that. They know the dot-com bust was not your doing (nor Clinton's, really). You have given the people a tax cut, and Alan Greenspan has given them rock-bottom interest rates. In normal times, these would produce a snapping recovery. But war sits on business confidence like a fat man on a dog. Your war, a Republican war, of which the politically profitable part is over. We are now in the losing part. The occupation of Iraq could drag on well past November 2004. But you can forestall that. Lean on the U.N. for troops. Lean on the Egyptians; they owe us a favor or two for the billions we've doled out to them. Speed up the creation of an Iraqi government. You don't need to wait for elections. That's Iraq's business. Then you can announce that most of the troops will be home by Christmas and you will not be needing all of that $87 billion. Watch Wall Street jump. The dollar, too. Nobody expects you to do this. It will shock your friends, but what's more, it will confound your enemies. It will also steer the Republican Party back toward that nationalistic but "humble" foreign policy you described three years ago, which best suits the interests, and the patience, of those who might vote for you in 2004. Bruce Ramsey's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is bramsey@seattletimes.com

To: T L Comiskey who wrote (28770)	9/25/2003 9:10:38 AM
From: TigerPaw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

The now Republican led Texas legislature, when not redistricting, pushed for "Tort Reform" to protect doctors from outrageous jury awards in malpractice. The results: INSURANCE<font color=purple> Farmers to stop insuring for malpractice in Texas JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Farmers Insurance Group will stop selling medical malpractice insurance in Texas and 17 other states, narrowing an already tight market for physicians. Farmers Insurance lost more than $100 million last year on malpractice policies, spokeswoman Michelle Levy said. Farmers Insurance stopped writing new policies Friday and plans to halt renewals on Jan. 1, subject to the approval of insurance regulators in each state. </font> These are probably the good results. TP