6-15-07, 9:45 am

Bush doesn't want you to think about the war. He'd rather you think about immigration or Paris Hilton. FOX News is helping him out by refusing to report much about Iraq, despite Bush's claimed that it is the main front of the central struggle of the 21st century.

But the Democrats are planning to change that. Senate Democrats are going to hold new votes in the coming weeks on changing the direction of Bush's Iraq war policy, according to the Associated Press. But will these votes set a date to bring the troops home and end the war?

AP quoted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as saying, 'We're going to hold the president's feet to the fire.'

Four separate votes are planned: to shift funding away from combat to training in 2008, set a date to begin to bring the troops home within four months of passage of the bill, set tougher limits on the length of combat tours, and repeal congressional authorization for military action against Iraq.

The Associated Press billed the effort as a cynical attempt to show antiwar constituents, which according to recent polls approaches seven in every 10 Americans, that congressional Democrats are trying to uphold their promise to bring the war to an end.

Democrats are only doing this because they need to refocus attention on the war in order to continue the anti-Republican trend among voters, implies AP. What the AP didn't say, however, is that if Democrats fail to make a substantial step toward ending the war, voters could become nearly as discontented with them as they are with the Republicans who started the war.

AP reports that the four separate pieces of legislation will be offered as amendments to the 2008 defense authorization bill, which will provide a record-setting $649 billion in military spending.

Meanwhile schools across the country are being forced to close by budget shortfalls, 47 million people lack health care (one-fifth of whom are children), emergency services are being gutted, and the life of the planet is being choked by greenhouse gas emissions.

The Democratic leaders expect the amendments to be blocked by Republican filibusters, but intend to force Senate Republicans to go on record again as rubber stamping Bush's open-ended occupation of Iraq.

20 Senate Republicans are facing reelection in 2008, and a growing number are feeling the heat from their constituents to change course in Iraq and bring the troops home.

Many Republicans have indicated that for them September is the deadline for showing real progress in Iraq before they ask President Bush to end the 'surge' and develop a new policy.

AP quoted Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) as saying, 'I think that by September, if not earlier, enough Republicans will be joining us to change course in Iraq. And if there's enough Republicans joining us, the administration will see that handwriting on the wall.' At least five Republicans are backing separate proposals that would implement the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, including expanded diplomatic efforts to generate a political resolution to the sectarian violence in Iraq, shift the mission of US troops from combat to training, begin redeployments out of Iraq by 2008, and impose congressional oversight by requiring the Bush administration to report on events in Iraq every three months to Congress.

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans and the White House continue to blame the Iraqi government and the Iraqis themselves for a civil war sparked and perpetuated by the foreign occupation.

In an interview with right-wing MSNBC TV personality Tucker Carlson this week, Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) warned that proposals that fail to begin US troop withdrawal will not alter the situation in Iraq.

Kucinich called for passage of his bill HR 1234 which, among other things, would begin troops withdrawal, cuts off funding for combat operations in favor of withdrawal operations, aids expansion of reconstruction efforts, calls for expanded international diplomacy and the formation of a multinational peacekeeping force, and withdraws US military contractors and closes all US bases in Iraq.

While congressional Republicans seeking to keep their jobs in 2008 are the weak link in Bush's stay-the-course war policy, voters should continue to pressure the Democrats to continue to move forward towards ending this war.

It is sad and unfortunate that political maneuvering continues as US troops are dying while valiantly if erroneously trying to police a civil war caused by the administration that ordered them there.

About 500 US troops have been killed since Bush ordered the 'surge' in January, and approximately 3,000 have been officially listed as wounded. Meanwhile, an academic study shows that the suicide rate among combat veterans is twice as high as the civilian population. Other studies indicate that returning veterans are having trouble gaining access to medical care, have difficulties adjusting to civilian life, including increased risks of dependency on drugs and alcohol and spousal and domestic abuse.

And the Washington Post reports that the level of violence, as measured by sectarian murders, bombings, and gun battles, have not fallen after six months of Bush's surge.

Meanwhile, the motives for Bush's refusal to change course is coming into sharper focus. In recent weeks, top White House officials have made surprise visits to Iraq to pressure the government their to pass an oil privatization law that will allow companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron and others – who were big donors to the Bush and Republican campaigns (more than 4-to-1 over Democrats in 2006) – to gain control of up to two-thirds of Iraq's oil.

So let's clarify, our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, neighbors and friends are dying in a civil war that is being perpetuated to control oil. All they have to do is stay there long enough to make sure ExxonMobil gets its big fat cut.

It's a crime.

--Joel Wendland is managing editor of Political Affairs. Reach him at