Congress doesn’t like the message? Kill the messenger…

By Christine Anne Piesyk | September 20, 2007 |

With a majority vote censuring Freedom of Speech, Congress today smacked down the voices of hundreds of thousands of Americans who are simply saying “we want a drawdown; we want our troops home.” In other words, Americans who want to bring an end to the Iraq War.

Congress did it in the guise of patriotism, but this smackdown was also a blow to the very soldiers who are, according to these same officials, fighting for Democratic/Bill of Rights issues — such as free speech — in Iraq. In the U.S. Senate, a majority of our duly elected Senators, apparently with no more pressing issues to debate, voted on a Republican-sponsored symbolic resolution against MoveOn.org and their widely circulated anti-Petraeus ad that was printed as the general was testifying before Congress about the status of the Iraq War on the anniversary of Sept. 11.

The Senators, with Hilary Clinton and Christopher Dodd among the 25 refusing to join the censure, passed a resolution stating that Petraeus “deserves the full support of the Senate” and the Senate “strongly condemn(s) personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces.”

“Yesterday, they couldn’t even pass a bill to give soldiers adequate leave with their families before redeploying. But they’re spending time cracking down on a newspaper ad?” – MoveOn.org

Questioning Petraeus and the Bush war machine, as MoveOn.org had the guts and the tactical brilliance to do, is not slamming our troops. It slammed Bush domination of everything related to Iraq. Unfortunately, when it comes to Iraq, Petraeus is the man in the driver’s seat, pushing that machine through the Iraq landscape.

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