There is a big difference between Democrats and Republicans
Joe Biden:
Voted to support our troops with a $124 billion, and to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 120 days and complete that pullout by next March turning responsibility for Iraq over to Iraqis where it belongs.
Tom Carper:
Voted to support our troops with a $124 billion, and to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 120 days and complete that pullout by next March turning responsibility for Iraq over to Iraqis where it belongs.
Michael Castle
Voted to defund the troops while emboldening our enemies by supporting George Bush’s incompentent management of his war without end.
I am very torn about whether to withdraw the troops and just leave the Iraqis to kill each other and lose the chance to establish something positive in the area. I know that is a pipe dream at this point.
I think staying and finishing the mission or at least fixing our mess is the right thing to do, BUT i have no faith in our current President. This “war” could have been over a year and a half ago, under a different commander in chief.
I worry about the precedent that would be set by pulling out and I am angry about the way the extremists in both parties have treated our military.
I believe the unfortunate lesson to be learned from Iraq will be to wage all of our wars from the skies with minimal ground troop involvement. While I still believe the blood of innocent civilians killed in our bombing missions is on the hands of those that lead to the war and not the American military or government, but when our politicians’ inability to cooperate leads to more bombs being dropped, then i do believe we do take on more responsibility.
Republicans failed with a horrible war plan and a failure to adapt and Democrats failed this country by taking every chance to play politics and complain just to complain. (Try not to concentrate on my criticism of democrats and see my overall point.)
Do we cut off the infected foot and be forever disabled? Or, do we continue to fight the infection, knowing that our current doctors are idiots and are not providing the best care?
I believe the unfortunate lesson to be learned from Iraq will be to wage all of our wars from the skies with minimal ground troop involvement.
The lesson should be to work more diligently to avoid war in the first place.
You seem stuck on the “message” that this would send to people who wish us harm. Well, what “message” does staying in Iraq send?
Does staying say that we have “resolve” or does it comfort our enemies to know that we have suicidal delusions regarding our own godly righteousness and competence?
Shouldn’t the world’s largest economy send a better “message” to the world? Wouldn’t it make more sense to clearly tell the world that we understand the difference between fantasy and reality? I think the world would be comforted and our enemies would be worried if they knew that the United States understands the limits of military power to resolve conflicts.
Ironically, the article reads like a lot of the stuff we’ve been seeing come out of the Republican camp over the past couple of years (the Democratic majority didn’t vote for such and such a bill, therefore they don’t support our troops, they’ve emboldened our enemies, etc…).
That was the point.
anon meet irony, irony, anon.
So what was the difference between Democrats and Republicans, again?
It is an ironic irony to be sure.
“The lesson should be to work more diligently to avoid war in the first place.”
Well sure it is. Appeasement, pacifism and isolationism work every time. Ah, for the good old days of the Cold War when we propped up dictatorships against those the Sovs were propping up. At least back then only brown people were killing each other, and who cares about them, right?
I’m presently reading Martin Gilbert’s history of WWI, and I’ve just gotten to the part where the Bolshevik mutiny leads to Russia’s pulling out of the war, essentially ensuring a stalemate rather than a decisive victory over the Central Powers. Fast forward to early WWII, when the USSR signed the Non-Aggression Pact with the Nazis, only to have Hitler launch Operation Barbarossa against them a few years later. The Soviets lost around 10.7 million servicemen and 11.5 million civilians in the Great Patriotic War.
Yep, I’d say it’s time to sign a treaty with Amahdinejihad so he has plenty of time to build his nukes. Then we can start in with the UN weapons inspectors farce all over again.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to clearly tell the world that we understand the difference between fantasy and reality?
G Rex, I’ll put you down as a no vote.
Appeasement, pacifism and isolationism work every time.
Not nearly as well as containment.
Good thing we didn’t use your thinking during the Cold War.
Lileks: Guns, butter and pork
By JAMES LILEKS
Having signaled the desire to court defeat in Iraq, the Democrats have passed a goody-laden bill that shows their desire to lose the battle against wasteful spending.
Pork: It’s the other white flag!
Don’t worry — this ammunition-appropriations bill actually spends money on ammunition; Congress wants the troops to have sufficient bullets to cover their retreat. What’s really getting all the attention, besides the requirement that the U.S. quit the field by 2008, are the payouts given to various members of Congress who wanted their palms greased before they voted YES to supply the troops. Let’s examine some of the delights contained in the bill’s rich nougat center.
— $5 million to compensate tropical fish breeders for losses suffered when a virus took out their stock. You can’t really argue with this, since the Supreme Court long ago struck down the supposed “wall of separation” between Tank and State. It’s an obvious national priority, lest we find ourselves beholden to foreign fish cartels. There was even talk of creating a Strategic Clownfish Reserve, but experts agreed that Congress already performed that role admirably.
— $25 million to the spinach growers who lost money during the contamination brouhaha. If you were one of the unlucky people who ate the bad spinach, and missed work because you were up brouhahaing all night, you get no recompense.
— $13 million for Ewe Lamb Replacement and Retention. An unexpected side effect of the Pterodactyl Reintroduction Act of 2005 meant that huge, leather-winged reptiles were carrying off portions of the nation’s flock; this provision compensates herders. In a nod to fiscal responsibility, however, a rider that set up an Internet video monitoring system for sheep flocks called “Ewe Tube” was struck from the bill.
— $400 million for “wildland fire suppression.” Just have the fires speak out against the war; if you believe Sean Penn and Rosie O’Donnell, administration officials will suppress the fires with just a few words of criticism.
— $74 million for peanut storage. Sources on the Hill note this is a victory for freshman Rep. Planters, D-Licious, a colorful character who wears a monocle and top hat.
— $525,000 for the National Park System to beef up its avian flu detection efforts. Which means that the national Ewe Crisis is 26 times more important than avian flu detection? No. Another provision spends almost a billion dollars for flu pandemic preparation. But you know how things are today — trying to spend that much money to combat a dread disease is a hard sell, and you have to hide the appropriation in a bigger bill and hope no one finds out.
— $5 billion for education. Possibly more; the bill is 87 pages long. But ammunition procurement for the Air Force is $95.8 million, which might mean arrival of the long-awaited day, predicted on many a thoughtful bumper sticker, when the Air Force has to hold a bake sale. That will prompt Bill Maher to assert that Girl Scouts are braver than pilots, because the Scouts deliver cookies in person and the Air Force drops the boxes from 30,000 feet. Still, it makes sense; while education is an obvious federal obligation, there is nothing in the Constitution about an Air Force, and if the Founders had intended to spend money on “sky militias” they would have mentioned a “Balloon’d Musketry Corps” in the Federalist Papers.
But it’s not all pork. No, the bill provides Family Business Tax Simplification. This surely must be music to many small-businesspeople’s ears:
“(a) IN GENERAL. Section 761 (defining terms for purposes of partnerships) is amended by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g) and by inserting after sub-section (e) the following new subsection …” It goes on for another 56 lines. Simplification is a complex thing.
The bill’s conclusion says it all. It ends with “TIME FOR PAYMENT OF CORPORATE ESTIMATED TAXES,” and notes dryly that:
“Subparagraph (B) of section 401(1) of the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 is amended by striking ‘106.25 percent’ and inserting ‘112.75 percent.’ This Act may be cited as the ‘U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health, and Iraq Accountability Act, 2007.’ ”
Yes it may. And they hope it will, because the Ewe Retaining, Fish Farmer Subsidizing, Peanut Protecting, and Insurgent Reassurance Act didn’t focus-test as well as they thought it might.
Anon, the key to the Cold War not going hot was Mutually Assured Destruction. We and the USSR were pretty sure that neither of us would launch against the other because after the retaliation neither power would survive. Pre-emption was not an option for either side. In the mean time, our brown men could kill their brown men ’til the cows came home, and vice versa. To Amahdinejihad, MAD just means the Hidden Imam arrives a bit sooner to take him to Paradise.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to clearly tell the world that we understand the difference between fantasy and reality?
steamboat, I’ll put you down as a no vote as well.
Now, don’t get me wrong steamboat. Fantasy has its place. I like Disneyland as much as anyone, but I don’t think fantasy based leadership and pretending that we are going to “win” anything in Iraq (Damn that frenchified Demcorat Party!) is good for the country right now.
“Pterodactyl Reintroduction Act of 2005”
That one totally cracked me up!
i love how everyone forgets this is all about $$$
“…this is all about $$$”
Well sure it is. The Dems want all that lovely tax money to spend on buying votes with half-assed social programs, and that pesky war keeps taking it all away from them. Surrender now! The heck with defending civilization, we want socialized health care!
The heck with defending civilization,
Too bad we had to dispense with civilization in order to save it.
Doesn’t support our troops, why should she support the limeys?
Pelosi Refusing to Support British on Iran?
Poweline ^ | 3/29/07 | John Hinderaker
It’s hard to believe, but that’s what we’re hearing from Capitol Hill. A resolution has been proposed in the House of Representatives that condemns Iran for the seizure of British sailors and marines, expresses support for our British allies. It’s hard to see anything controversial in that. But apparently, the resolution has languished all week while Pelosi refuses to allow it to come to the floor.
Earlier today, Congressman Eric Cantor wrote the following letter to Pelosi:
Dear Madam Speaker: Fifteen kidnapped British marines and sailors recently became the latest victims of a systematic Iranian campaign of terror and international defiance. The illegal seizure of the British forces is a signal that Iran views us as powerless to prevent it from realizing its aggressive ambitions.
For the sake of our standing in the world, our allies and most importantly the 15 British personnel and their families, I urge you to bring H. Res. 267 to the floor today before we adjourn. The resolution calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the British marines and sailors. It would also call on the U.N. Security Council to not only condemn the seizure, but to explore harsher sanctions to counter the growing Iranian threat.
A Republican Congressional staffer writes:
It is simply staggering to me that Pelosi refuses to stand beside America’s closest ally. I literally would not have thought this possible, until I saw it this week.
Staggering, indeed. We’ll see what happens this afternoon.
Powerline.
Steamboat,
I just heard on NPR that the Brits urged the Americans not to make a statement. Why do the Republicans want to disregard the wishes of our close ally?
232 years ago, the Brits also urged us to pay a tax on tea. The Americans refused and boarded a ship in Boston and promptly threw all the tea overboard. This made the tea unfit to drink……….even for Americans………