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<p>Yes. I met a survivor of the al-Anfal massacre perpetrated by Hussein during late 1980s. When I spoke to him, he placed the blame solely on Hussein, and not the United States, for the attack. He said if he had a chance to talk to Hussein face-to-face, he’d ask the simple question: “Why?” </p>
<p>Made no mention of WMDs, etc. Nor did he seek to blame the U.S. for it, though to be fair, I didn’t make a point to ask.</p>
<p>That said, how did this turn into a Ron Paul thread? More importantly, I’d like to hit a few points:</p>
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<p>1) And how exactly would you go about doing that? Fiscal year appropriations are in place once the President signs it (including emergency appropriations). To de-fund a previously appropriated measure, it would require a passage of another Congressional bill which would need to be signed by the President or overridden with the 2/3rds vote. By the way, unless this gets fast-tracked by the majority leaders of both Houses (do you really want to be the one responsible for de-funding the troops, regardless of what political party you are?) – the bill will take months to pass, if it ever sees the light of day at all. </p>
<p>2) The evidence regarding domestic wiretapping… I think the Judiciary/Intelligence Committees will face a tough day in court if they try to challenge the executive privilege claim on this. Not saying it’s not unfair – in fact, it’s completely atrocious that the President would abuse the system like this, but nevertheless, given the current judicial setup, it’d be a long legal battle that may extend past the inauguration of the next President.</p>
<p>As much as I would like this war to end (and I am young, but worked for a Member of Congress for quite a bit), there are no easy solutions. I wish I could snap a finger and say, “Hey, let’s just instantly withdraw from Iraq,” but given the current political situation domestically and the situation internationally, it’s not possible. We should, however, begin the process of withdrawal, or at least reconfigure our forces in a manner that would facilitate withdrawal, and start to promote the soft partitioning of Iraq. </p>
<p>I’m not going to comment on the Ron Paul business, because I hate that almost every political thread is being hijacked by Paulites. Yes, hijacked. I respect Mr. Paul’s service in Congress, but do not agree with many of his policies foreign or domestic. (They lack depth and insight… I’ve elaborated on the foreign policy aspect of it before. I’m not fluent enough in domestic issues to comment extensively but know that his policies are rather baseless… if you poke at the tip of the iceberg, you’ll find that it’s hollowed out.)</p>