Here are a few things to keep in mind about this Administration:

• Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force included maps dividing up Iraqi Oil Fields as early as the first week after their 2000 inauguration, but throughout 2001 claimed they had no plans to invade Iraq; they claimed they would seek diplomatic solutions to the WMD threat.


• This Administration lied about the intelligence it received forwarning of the 9/11 attacks.
 

• This Administration obstructed the investigation of the 9/11 commission.


• This Administration knowing lied about the WMD threat.


• This Administration treacherously betrayed an undercover CIA operative and destroyed a CIA front operation that was responsible for tracking Iran's nuclear ambitions and development.


• This Administration claimed no involvmeent with the leak, yet the investigation now directly implicates the office of the Vice President as well as strongly indicates involvement and participation at the behest of the Office of the President.  In other words, this Administration lied.


• This Administration attempted to engage a foreign ally in a plan to antagonize another nation into triggering a war.


• Evidence has surfaced indicating that this Administration purposely ignored and bypassed qualified intelligence and experienced military advice while planning the invasion.


• This Administration illegally diverted over $700 Million from Afghanistan to plan the illegal invasion of Iraq.


• Additional evidence has come to light that 394 tons of cash, shrink-wrapped and put on pallets, has been shipped to contractors in Iraq with little to no oversight; worse, still, are reports that much of the cash has found its way into the hands of the insurgency.


• This Administration's poor execution of their little war bypassed a sealed and protected ammo dump that was subsequently raided and now likely supplied much of the insurgency.


• The deteriorating situation in Iraq has led this Administration to spend billions of dollars on propaganda campaigns designed to sell the "success" of their invasion, while reports of escalating violence and all-out civil war spread -- and worsen.

This is the short list of crimes, misdemeanors, betrayals, incompetencies and neglect.

Let that take a moment to register, folks: It's the short list.

It's all related to Iraq, and to Iran by extension. It details none of the domestic atrocities that have sprung up like turdblossoms in a cattle field. From the abysmal plight of our 9/11 heroes to the literal abandonment of New Orleans in the wake of Katrina, this Administration has lied to you, to us and to the world.

Now, this Administration has gathered a massive fleet "to intimidate Iran" into diplomatic talks. Talks in pursuit of concesions that Iran was, in fact, willing to make over three years ago but this Administration ignored them.  This Administration claims that it has no plans to invade Iraq, yet evidence has already surfaced and exposed this as a lie.

New doubts have also come to light about the Administration's nuclear claims regarding both Iran and Korea.

Enough is enough.

SusanHu's recent diary These Fighters Fight To Stop The Fighting names measured proposed by several Congressional members designed to help our military and our nation extricate itself from Iraq. Big Tent Democrat's diary, as posted by TexDem, Defunding the Iraq Debacle: There Would Be No Constitutional Crisis reminds you what you should already know -- there will be no Constitutional crisis by defunding the war.

There is a major Constitutional Crisis ongoing, and you are smack in the middle of it, but first things first. You must prevent the escalation and triggering of a new crisis -- an Iran crisis. It is already intended to go nuclear. Remember those words at the opening of this piece?

Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.

Congress, you must act as one to end the ongoing Iraq debacle and prevent the contagion of war from spreading into Iran, Syria or other nations in the Middle East. Failing that, you fail us all.
Here's a few steps to take:

1. Revoke or restrict the two AUMFs that were granted this Administration.


2. Decide on one plan to act to defund the war and redeploy the troops, preferably something like Murtha's plan. Inadequately trained or prepared troops won't go, and troops who have been to hell and back -- and back, and back, and back -- are done.

   Remember, folks, this was an ill-advised war of choice that this Administration lied to us about, it's not a war that came to us through no fault or action of our own.



3. Issue a binding resolution to prevent aggressive action against Iran directly or acting as a proxy or ally to an aggressor nation.


4. Issue a binding resolution to prohibit the deployment, use or preparation of any nuclear devices absent a declaration of war by Congress.


5. Continue the ongoing investigations into the multiple shady, illegal and Constitutionally-challenged activities of the Bush/Cheney regime, and do not hesitate to initiate impeachment proceedings while these are ongoing. I recommend starting them now, in fact, to ensure cooperation among all investigatees in lieu of risking imminent pardons.

This is not a drill. This is not a request. It is a note to remind you that you, and you alone, are the last bastion of hope that we have toward the prevention of a nuclear nightmare.

Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.

A supplementary note to the Republican members of Congress: Either you are with us, and with the troops, or you are against us. Avoiding a vote to avoid having your voice heard, to avoid voting against your party, counts as an act of actively supporting this Administration. Remember the bullet points above.  This Administration must be stopped. It is time to put aside party politics, and run -- don't walk, run -- to the other side of the aisle and send a message to the people of the nation, to the troops, to our friends and allies across the world: you really Americans when push comes to shove.

A supplementary note to the Democratic members of Congress: Do not let your fears or ambitions cloud your judgement. Remember, he who hesitates is lost -- those words apply particularly well now.  Do not cower and prevaricate in hopes of avoiding accountability. Embrace accountability -- yours, as well as that of your comrades on either side of the aisle. As for those yahoos in the Executive Branch and their closely-abiding minions...well, I'd quote the Vice President's own words, but I'm trying to keep this clean.  Do not be deterred, and do not delay. Work together, now, through the night if need be, and decide to support one plan for troop removal and redeployment. Propose it, along with those other items I outlined above. All of them..

DailyKos diarist eOz has a piece out called Countdown To No Confidence:  T - 20 Days. It's a good piece, but I have a quibble with it: I don't see us as approaching "high noon" in America. I see our nation, and you -- the Congress, as approaching a sort of "Twilight Time." At this hour, there are but two things to keep in mind:

Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their nation

and, of course,

Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.