With congressional passage of the administration's supplemental money bill, the president threatens a veto because of his aversion to timetables. But whether he vetoes it or not, the die is cast. More money for war, a war that never should have been waged in the first place. When news broke of the congressional passage, I thought not of Congress but of a robber, like the ones of old time movies who snarled your money or your life. Congress goes one better, for it's your money and your life. For while bowing to the false political imagery of supporting the troops, congress has socked more US billions into a losing proposition to prop up a doddering regime in Baghdad. The troops trope is a political maneuver meant to evade the charge that the democratically controlled Congress is soft on defense and betrayed the military in the midst of war. Instead of recognizing the handwriting on the wall, imperial huberis of left and right feeds the illusion that more money can save Iraq. Only Iraqis can save Iraq. What we are witnessing are simply the limits of US imperial power. When Rome reached the limits of its stretch, Emperor Hadrian ordered the building of a wall across Britain's colonial areas. The US has ordered the building of walls throughout Baghdad, to further divide an already divided city. Echoes of empire, echoes of history. Vietnam was waged years after it was abundantly clear that peace was inevitable. In that interim, tens of thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, perished in a maelstrom of madness to save the faces of presidents. A generation later, although the scope is different, the dismal reality is the same. More war, more needless death. From Death Row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal
