Did Ellison sell us out?

by Ed Felien

Last Saturday, March 31, the Progressive Caucus of the DFL held an open meeting to discuss Keith Ellison's vote to continue funding the Iraq war. Of the 40 or so people who came, probably less than half were DFL regulars. Most of the participants were part of a loose coalition of leftists and peace activists that had come together to support Ellison's campaign last fall.

Marie Braun of Women Against Military Madness (and the well of strength that continues to organize the Wednesday afternoon Lake Street Bridge Vigil to End the War), said with a new sense of cynicism in her voice, "Politicians disappoint us." She spoke for most of the peace movement.

For the past month leading up to the House vote on funding for the war, Marie and other members of the peace movement occupied the offices of Congressional Representatives and Senators asking them to vote against the war. Over a month ago, Ellison's office assured these activists that he would vote against further funding. His was the only office that was not targeted. During last fall's election, he had described the peace and justice community as the cornerstone of his campaign. He had taken the Peace First pledge to vote against all further funding for the war.

A moderator for the Progressive Caucus began the discussion last Saturday by asking, "What would you have done if you were part of the Democratic Party leadership?" In many ways this is a legitimate question. There are limited choices. As head of the Congress, Nancy Pelosi has to pass legislation. This means she has to get a majority of Congresspeople to vote with her to get anything done. An overwhelming majority of the American people wants an end to the war in Iraq and the speedy withdrawal of American troops. But it is not clear whether the Democrats in Congress are in similar agreement. It is essential for Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and all the Democratic presidential candidates to make the Democratic Party look like it's in favor of peace, because that's what's going to get them elected in 2008.

She needed a resolution that even the most conservative Democrats could support. Some representatives had to be bought off with special pork; one district even got a subsidy for peanut storage. Ellison got a trip to the Middle East. In the end, Pelosi was able to pull it off with just a few votes to spare. She even let seven peace activists (John Lewis, Dennis Kucinich, Lynne Woolsley and Barbara Lee—the only person in Congress to vote against the open-ended War on Terror—and others) leak over to the opposition. She demonstrated that she understood the first rule of politics: She knew how to count.

This bill was sold as a way of putting limits on Bush's war in Iraq. It sets a September 2008 deadline for troop withdrawal, or does it? A real deadline would mean the cutoff of funding. The House bill provides $145 billion for the next fiscal year from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008, and it provides $50 billion for beyond July 1, 2008 into June 30, 2009.
Further, the bill reaffirms the privatization of Iraqi oil. This puts Congress on record as stating that Halliburton's. ownership of Iraqi oil is in the national interest. This means that if the Iraqi people ever got rid of the puppet government that rules their country on behalf of U.S. business interests and demanded their oil back, then the U.S. could claim they were illegally expropriating vital U.S. interests and use this as a pretext for re-invading their country.

Also, the bill continues to fund the expansion of permanent bases in Iraq.

Democrats have been warning that Bush will probably veto the bill. But why would he do that? It gives him everything he wants, and it even says he can "waive those restrictions" and ignore the pullout deadline. If he feels he must say something about the pullout date, then he could issue one of his signing statements where he says he doesn't agree with and won't implement a part of the legislation.

But it often happens that it doesn't matter what you said, it matters what people think you said. When most people heard about the House bill, they thought this was a victory for getting out of Iraq. The Senate immediately got backbone and passed a resolution demanding U.S. troops out of Iraq by March of 2008. There seems to be momentum building.

Bush doesn't want to get out of Iraq because his company, Halliburton (purchased through a stock swap with Dresser Oil—the Bush family company—when Cheney was CEO), will have ownership of the oil and oil drilling equipment. Everybody else has lost in the Iraq war, but Bush has won.
At the Saturday meeting, Marie Braun concluded: "We have to go back to our own work. We have work to do!"

On Sunday, April 15, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. af Powc/erhorn Park in South Minneapolis, Keith Ellison will hold a public meeting to discuss his vote on the Iraq War. Everyone is invited.