The Democratic Congress did pass an unbinding resolution proposing a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal.

At the last minute the Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, withdrew an amendment that would have stopped the funding for completion of five permanent U.S. bases in Iraq. Iraqis have a sick joke that the $600 million U.S. Embassy and the bases are the only Iraqi construction projects on target.

The bases and embassy complex would establish a permanent diplomatic and military presence of tens of thousands of personnel dominating Iraq for the indefinite future. How soon have we forgotten that Osama Bin Laden's initial dispute with the United States was over the permanent bases we built in Saudi Arabia after the 1991 Gulf War, breaking Dick Cheney's promise to Saudi King Fahd that U.S. troops who had been allowed to enter Saudi Arabia would: "not stay a minute longer than needed."

Seventy four percent of Democratic Senators subsequently voted for the $100 billion supplemental funding for the Iraq war minus restrictions, timetables etc. and putting the onus on the Iraqi government to enact several benchmarks, the first and foremost the Oil Law that will denationalize Iraq's oil reserves and open them up to exploitation by American oil companies.

The Bush administration first attempted to get this attack on Iraqi sovereignty pushed through Iraq's parliamentary process by December 31 last year as an IMF quid pro quo reduction of Iraqi debt incurred under Saddam Hussein. It was blocked in Iraq's Parliament.

The deadline was moved to March 31 and then June 30. The parliament then took a two-month vacation as another stalling tactic. American pressure forced approval by the cabinet with 24 out of 37 members present. Now the absent Iraqi Parliament and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki-hunkered down in the Green Zone, under constant attack despite the surge, must sign the law in order to retain Bush administration support.

The surge is going badly. As predicted, violence is down somewhat in Baghdad but has increased in other previously quiet areas. Total deaths and injuries, both American and Iraqi, are at record levels.

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, who exposed the My Lai massacre and Abu Graib torture, wrote several months ago about the Bush administration's secret Plan B program; situated in Dick Cheney's office and directed by Deputy National Security adviser Elliot Abrams.

He and former Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar, concocted a scheme to utilize Saudi members of the Salafi ultra fundamentalist sect to foment tension and uprisings, in other Middle Eastern nations in order to divert attention from the Iraqi debacle and build up support for an attack on Iran as the instigator.

Some entered Lebanon legally and settled in a Palestinian refugee camp. They robbed a bank of $1,500 and retreated into the camp. The Lebanese police and army responded but the attempt to get Hezbollah in the fight was a dismal failure.

Passage of the oil law will not bring more oil on the world market any time soon but more likely less oil from Iraq-now at half the level when the war started. Oil workers threaten strikes and disruption if the law is passed. Nationalistic Shiite groups also oppose the law and threaten to fight to keep Iraq together and undivided so that "divide and conquer" Bush policy will not prevail.

The real reason for invading Iraq should be obvious. Citizens who voted to end this misbegotten war should demand answers from their representatives for their actions and that they seek an honorable end to this war instead of continuing the death and destruction until the next election.

Jim Mullins is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C., and a resident of Delray Beach.

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