Louisiana Voice

Remember how we were lied to about those weapons of mass destruction (WMD) squirreled away in Iraq, just waitin to be unleased against democracy, freedom and American football?

Well, maybe not football, per se, but certainly the ideals Americans held dear. So, it was off to war with an ill-timed “mission accomplished” boasted by George W. Bush in the first days of that incursion.

Except for two minor points, that is: First, W’s “mission accomplished” morphed into Afghanistan at an eventual cost of 20 years, $1.06 trillion and 4500 American military and 200,000 civilian dead. Second, it turned out there were no WMD. Another 32,300 American service members were wounded in Iraq—and we know what tends to happen to our wounded fighters these days: they’re conveniently forgotten and tossed aside. Could be a coincidence that an estimated 33,000 veterans in this country are homeless?

Can you wrap your brain around what $1.06 trillion could mean to those 33,000 and the other 740,000 American homeless?

Now, let’s fast-forward from May 20, 2003 (the day we invaded Iraq) to today. We’re being told by yet another Repugnantcan administration, one that is an inestimable number of times more dishonest and deceptive than that of George W. Bush, that Iran posed a threat to the U.S., that we-feared-they-might-strike-back-if-we-launched-the-first-strike- so-we-launched-a-preemptive-strike-as-a-precaution or we wanted to thwart Iran’s building nuclear capabilities (the latter reason after Trump tore up an Obama-era anti-nuke agreement with which Iran was in compliance at the time). Truth is, no one know why we’re at war—other than the fact that Cankle Ankes, Pete Hogsbreath and Little Marco acquiesced to the wishes of Yahoo Netanyahu.

As we enter into this special edition of Trumpian Diplomacy, it’s important to remember he was the candidate who harped for years on end—even before he ever ran for president—about the U.S. allowing itself to become entangled in “endless wars.”

It was Trump who proclaimed himself as the candidate for peace.

Likewise, it was Trump who initiated the so-called “Board of Peace” ($1 billion membership fee: please pay before entering) with himself as the chairman.

And it is that same Trump who continues to claim that he has “ended eight wars,” while simultaneously, he has literally attacked eight separate sovereign nations—all without the advice and consent of Congress which, constitutionally, is charged with approving all wars.

Yet, when Democrats and a couple of stray Repugnantcans attempted to force votes to enforce the War Powers Resolution of 1973 (a federal law intended to check the president’s power to commit the U.S. to armed conflict), votes failed this past week in both the House and Senate.

Now, this is the part I hope you will all remember. Of Louisiana’s six House members and two U.S. Senators, precisely two are Democrats. Both of them, Reps. Troy Carter of Louisiana’s 2^nd District and Cleo Fields of the 8^th District, voted in favor of enforcement of the resolution.

The rest, all Repugnantcans, voted against the measure, in effect, taking way their own power of checks and balances.

Here’s the House vote:

And the Senate:

Ten, twenty years and a couple trillion more dollars and an as yet unknown number of dead and injured American Gis, remember the names of U.S. Reps. Steve Scalise, Mike Johnson, Clay Higgins and Julia Letlow, along with Sens. John Neely Kennedy and Bill Cassidy for ceding their responsibility by bending over and greasing up for the Earl of Mar-A-Lardo.

Of course, Cassidy will be history by that time. So, too, will Agent Orange. But the sorry legacies of each of Louisiana’s Repugnantcan delegation will endure as the ones contributing to the plunging of the U.S. into yet another Viet Nam-Iraq-Afghanistan quagmire that only served to enrich the munitions manufacturers, war speculators and the oil companies while fueling further inflation back home.

Don’t believe me? Well, just sit back and see who gets rich–and who suffers–off Trump’s sweet little war.