08 March 2007
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a direct challenge to President Bush, House Democrats unveiled legislation Thursday requiring the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the fall of next year. The White House said Bush would veto it.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the deadline would be added to legislation providing nearly $100 billion the Bush administration has requested for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
She told reporters the measure would mark the first time the new Democratic-controlled Congress has established a "date certain" for the end of U.S. combat in the four-year-old war that has claimed the lives of more than 3,100 U.S. troops.
As the article goes on to say this is basically a "non-starter" becuase Bush will veto it if it gets to the point where he has to. Hence this is little more than another publicity stunt and, as even th AP notes, that the anti-war wing of the Democratic party has had some problems turning hotair in to action that people support:In the House, Pelosi and the leadership have struggled in recent days to come up with an approach on the war that would satisfy liberals reluctant to vote for continued funding without driving away more moderate Democrats unwilling to be seen as tying the hands of military commanders.
The decision to impose conditions on the war risks a major confrontation with the Bush administration and its Republican allies in Congress.
But without a unified party, the Democratic leadership faced the possibility of a highly embarrassing defeat when the spending legislation reaches a vote, likely later this month. establishing a deadline for troop withdrawals.
[...]The measure emerged from days of private talks among Democrats following the collapse of Rep. John Murtha's original proposal, which would have required the Pentagon to meet readiness and training standards without the possibility of a waiver.
Murtha, D-Pa., and chairman of a House Appropriations military subcommittee, said its implementation would have starved the war effort of troops because the Pentagon would not have been able to find enough fully rested, trained and equipped units to meet its needs.
Several moderate Democrats spoke out against it, though. And Republicans sharply attacked it as the abandonment of troops already in the war zone.
Anyway that's the plan. Run Away next year no matter what. And more likely the real plan is that after this clueless idea gets vetoed the Democrats figure they can blame absolutely anything bad on Bush. To that end, as RedState reports, the Democrats decided they didn't need to talk to General Petraeus before this brainfart but prefered to consult with the well known military strategists in the Trades Unions and MoveOn.org.Telegraphing our enemy a timetable? We're supposed to believe that this telegraphy of timetables would cause us to lose the war?
Actually, the reason that the Democrats want out of Iraq is because we've already lost.
The war didn't achieve a single one of its objectives. The occupation will never accomplish anything worthwhile. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wa) was admirably candid when she said on the floor of the Senate, "In truth, we are fighting a war with no cause."
Contrary to Republican braying, it's not up to General Petraeus and the commanders in the field to decide how long we should stay in Iraq. Civilian leaders set policy and military commanders implement it. Elected officials decide the ends, and the military sorts out the means.
Bush is going to veto this bill because he's not man enough to admit his own colossal failure. He'd rather commit to a pointless war indefinitely. How many more people will die to salve George W. Bush's ego?
Majikthise probably helped craft this strategy since she appears to be equally clueless as she thinks that withdrawal would not cause us to lose the war. True "we" might not lose the war but the people who "we" would like to be allies will lsoe the war and the people we don't like would win. Lest a feminist like Majikthise forgets the people who are fighting against the US are the Iranian government - that bastion of feminist thought where the police break up celebrations of International Women's Day and groups like Al Qaeda who think that women should be kept chained to the kitchen sink.