U.S. voters angry about Iraq war, Republican scandals: expert
Q: The latest opinion polls show that the Democrats are likely to overturn the Republican majority in the U.S. Congress in the midterm election in November. How did this turnaround in the Democrats' fortunes come about?
A: There are a number of reasons, but the first would be the increasing unpopularity of the U.S. war on Iraq with no prospect in sight for ending U.S. involvement. President Bush's repeated statements that he intends "to stay the course" and "the only strategy is to win" is not being well received by the American people who see the numbers of U.S. soldiers being dead and wounded rising by the day and Iraq collapsing into a "civil war." Also, the recent number of corruption scandals involving Republican members of Congress has weakened the Republicans' Christian voting base, particularly the most recent one concerning Rep. Mark Foley and his sexually suggestive emails to teenage male Congressional pages which led to his resignation. What is hurting the Democrats is that they have been unable or unwilling to take a principled position regarding withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq which largely reflects their dependence on the pro-Israel lobby, their main source of political contributions. Thanks to that same lobby, they have taken an aggressive stance towards Iran and its desire to develop nuclear power.
Q: What will be the reaction if Republicans lose control of the House?
A: If the Democrats win the House of Representatives, it is likely that some Democrat, who is among the party's more independent politicians, may introduce a bill in Congress to impeach President Bush, even though it will not be supported by the leaders of the party.
Q: How will this affect the Bush administration's Middle East policy during the remainder of his term in office?
A: Unfortunately, the likelihood of the Democrats forcing major changes to U.S. Middle East policy during the rest of Bush's term are slim. The U.S. will continue to give Israel and its oppression of the Palestinians its unqualified support; it will continue to threaten Iran, and how, and if, it will extricate U.S. forces from Iraq remains to be seen. The Iraq war has been the greatest foreign policy disaster in U.S. history. Despite that, pushed by the pro-Israel lobby and the neocons who were the architects of the Iraq war, there is a great fear among the U.S. anti-war movement that the Bush administration will bomb Iran. I do not think that will happen. What will prevent that, I believe, is that the old line establishment in Washington, represented by George Bush Senior and his former Secretary of State James Baker III, as well as influential members of the Pentagon, are apparently against it, being fully aware of the calamitous results that such an attack would cause.