White House, GOP concede defeat on Iraq resolution

[Judi Lynn]

Feb. 15, 2007, 1:14AM
White House, GOP concede defeat on Iraq resolution
With 11 in party breaking ranks, White House sets sights on next fight: war funding

By JONATHAN WEISMAN
Washington Post

WASHINGTON — With Republicans speaking out Wednesday against President Bush's war policy on the House floor, GOP leaders and the White House conceded defeat on a resolution opposing sending additional U.S. troops to Iraq and began looking toward the coming battle about the war's funding.

On the second day of a four-day showdown over the nonbinding resolution, Democrats looked on as Republican dissidents denounced what they called Bush's ill-conceived plan to put 21,500 more combat troops in the middle of a sectarian civil war.

Some of the 11 Republicans who publicly broke with Bush were longtime opponents of the war, such as Reps. Walter Jones, of North Carolina, and Ron Paul, of Surfside, Texas. Others, such as Reps. Fred Upton, of Michigan, and Jim Ramstad, of Minnesota, had never sought the limelight and were almost apologetic in their speeches.

Rep. Ric Keller, of Florida, prefaced his statement with an affirmation of support for Bush. But, he said, a "surge" of troops had already been attempted in Baghdad. "The benefits were temporary," he said. "The body bags were permanent."
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/4555216.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. AAWWWW

the pubbies will loose

All them allusions to the Alamo didn't work?

By the by, I'm not surprised Ron Paul broke with the party, by the way

[tblue]

2. Yippee!!! It's time they all stopped betting on the wrong horse.

[truthisfreedom]

3. Wow. One step at a time, we're taking back this country.

And one investigation at a time, we'll put these criminals in jail.

[lligrd]

4. Repugs With Courage??

Did I just see a pig fly by?

[Peace Patriot]

5. Whoa! I wasn't aware of the Murtha strategy!

From the same article:

"The Murtha plan

"Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, will formally outline the Democrats' plan today to anti-war groups agitating for binding action against the war.

"Rep. James Moran, D-Va., a subcommittee member who helped arrange the Internet event, said the plan is aimed at tamping down calls from the Democrats' liberal wing for Congress simply to end funding for the war.

"The Murtha plan, based on existing military guidelines, includes a stipulation that Army troops who have already served in Iraq must be granted two years at home before an additional deployment; Marines must be given 14 months at home; and any troops sent to Iraq must be those deemed fully trained and equipped under existing military standards. The idea is to slowly choke off the war by stopping the deployment of troops from units that have been badly degraded by four years of combat.

"'They won't be able to deploy troops unless they extend troops overseas. And if we limit the extension, then it'll be very difficult for them to continue this surge, which the American people are against and the Iraqis don't want,' Murtha said on National Public Radio."

------------------

Brilliant! Thank you, John Murtha! Way to strategize!

-----------------

This is also heartening:

"Those 11 (Republicans who spoke against the "surge") could be just the tip of the iceberg. One GOP lawmaker close to the leadership, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said leaders have 50 to 60 Republicans on their watch list, with between 40 and 60 expected to break with the White House on Friday."

-----

A "watch list"? Is that, like, suspected Republican terrorists?

[Vidar]

12. It's a good strategy.

[goclark]

16. Yes for Murtha! nt

[northofdenali]

23. Murtha is just plain brilliant.

When I first read his plan, I thought of our local Strykers who just got home at Christmas, and how they're worried they'll be redeployed by April -

Couldn't happen under his plan! :patriot:

[salin]

6. guess all the 'terra, terra, terra' talk (including Iran hype)

isn't working with even some of his 'allies' in Congress.

[JoFerret]

7. GOP tactics revealed here:

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/feb/13/leaked_gop_letter_reveals_why_gop_doesnt_want_to_debate_escalation


<< We are writing to urge you not to debate the Democratic Iraq resolution on their terms, but rather on ours.

Democrats want to force us to focus on defending the surge, making the case that it will work and explaining why the President's new Iraq policy is different from prior efforts and therefore justified.

We urge you to instead broaden the debate to the threat posed to Americans, the world, and all "unbelievers" by radical Islamists. We would further urge you to join us in educating the American people about the views of radical Islamists and the consequences of not defeating radical Islam in Iraq.

The debate should not be about the surge or its details. This debate should not even be about the Iraq war to date, mistakes that have been made, or whether we can, or cannot, win militarily. If we let Democrats force us into a debate on the surge or the current situation in Iraq, we lose.>>

[Judi Lynn]

8. Long before we have seen just how low these guys can get, we might never have thought

adult-sized people could be this cheesy.

It doesn't seem all that long ago they were all standing around, all puffed up, full of themselves, and their pretended piety, while their real ethics hadn't gotten the chance to start playing out, yet.

It's no mystery now what kind of people these dirty, backstabbing, lying, cheating idiots are. They continue to unfold themselves daily. What a treat for the rest of us.

[left is right]

10. Shouldn't this be forwarded to all Democratic

Congress members and Senators with a personal note that they need to wise-up about "debating" with repukes

[Doondoo]

9. OK, that's a nice symbolic win. Now it's time for some REAL ACTION!!!

[rodeodance]

11. but Bush has his news conf & each Repug will have their 5 minutes to

diss the Dems!!!!!!!

[LiberalFighter]

13. There you go.. permanent results just the way the White House idiot wanted.

[fed-up]

14. "The benefits were temporary," he said. "The body bags were permanent." n/t

[Barrett808]

17. "Benefits"? If he's talking about Operation Together Forward, there were none

Violence in Baghdad surged along with the escalation. We can expect more of the same, and worse, from this next escalation.

[Mark E. Smith]

15. The first step is almost done

And now that they're down on paper as opposing whatever it is Bush
thinks he's doing in Iraq, cutting off funding should seem like a very
logical next step.

K&R.

[bvar22]

18. As 2008 approaches, expect more Repubs to "speak out"...

...corpoDems will join them..... as long as it is only "symbolic non-binding" videoclips for the suckers back home.

...as for something with substance that actually cuts off the $BILLIONS being funneled into the richest CEO's and Investors ("The Ownership Society").... forget it!

But I DO applaud those who took a "Symbolic Stand".
Better than nothing, and gets votes and support without actually DOING something.


Pardon my cynicism.


The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[rebel with a cause]

19. I don't trust them enough to applaud them,

using your hands to clap leaves you open for a jab. I suspect everything this group does, and I don't give them credit for anything. They would have to prove they are capable of doing anything without a alternative motive.

[KansDem]

20. Good! Now just concede defeat on Iraq and we're outta there!

Then we can start using that $11,000,000 and hour for something worthwhile here, like

election reform;
education;
veteran's benefits;
alternative energies;
health care;
and more...

[VegasWolf]

22. Exactly!!! nt

[northofdenali]

21. "The body bags were permanent"

[New Earth]

24. I don't understand

does this mean we will not be sending the additional 21,000+ troops to Iraq?