Open Thread: Iraq Is Still The Issue

[SeminalBlog]

Iraq is still the issue:

Both Clinton and Obama have repudiated the Iraq war, so naturally in a contest between them the conversation will often turn to other issues. But you may want to bookmark this post for the general, when Clinton or Obama will be running against someone like McCain, who is willing to spend the next 100 years in Iraq (at 100 billion per year, that comes out to $10 trillion in today's money — more than a doubling of the national debt). Every other issue depends on freeing up the money we're currently sending to Iraq.

emptypockets is right. Iraq touches every other issue in this race. Personally, even though the media and politicians may not be talking about Iraq on a regular basis, I firmly believe the electorate still has it on their mind, and it will come out at the ballot box.
Meanwhile, conservatives continue to come out against the war, even as their presumptive nominee argues for more blood. Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Senators in the Senate, is changing his mind. And who could blame him. The only reason "the surge" is stemming some violence in Iraq is because one of the most powerful clerics, Moqtada Al Sadr has called a ceasefire.
Today, he has extended that ceasefire for six months. Let's see…that would be until September. If I were Al Sadr, and I really wanted America to leave Iraq, I'd call off my ceasefire in September to make sure "100 years" McCain doesn't win in November. Seems like perfect timing to me…
What have you been reading in the blogosphere today?
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[Xandufar]

I'd like to take the opportunity to again ask a question I asked when the Iraq War issue arose on an earlier thread. Nobody ventured an answer.

Most everyone knows the first words of the Constitution are "We the People." The guys who wrote it were smart enough to know how to frame a representative self-government of The People, with three branches--Congress, Judiciary and Executive. They also knew something about economic and monetary poilicy. That's why Congress was given the power "to coin money and regulate the value thereof." Congress created the Treasury Department to exercise these powers.

If we need more money because there is not enough in the Treasury, we should be able to coin it, or print it, whatever the case may be. That's what we used to do all the time. Now somebody else does it, and we have to borrow it from them.

So my question is, why in the name of everything sacred to all montheistic and pagan religion alike, do we beg, borrow, and steal $200 billion dollars a year to fight a war in Iraq? If Iraq so (*)(*)(*)(*) important to our national security, and it's so (*)(*)(*)(*) expensive, why don't we stand up and use our Constitution to do it? If we are not going to do that, then whose war is it?