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Americans desperate for war plan |
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Thursday, 05 April 2007 |
What is over four years old, the culprit of over 3,000 lost American lives, and still a complete mess?
The war in Iraq.
When the Democrats reclaimed the Senate and the House of Representatives in November, I couldn’t have been happier.
However, I am not of the mindset that the Democrats can do no wrong.
Now that they are in power and can make changes, I expect them to.
At this point, it is of little importance to me who comes up with it, but we need a strategy.
After years of confusion and outright disarray surrounding an effort for which the initial reason is still
unknown, someone is finally developing a plan revealing an ending point.
In the past two weeks, the Democrat-led Senate and House of
Representatives passed bills forcing President Bush to abide by a
timeline for the withdrawal of American troops in exchange for funds to
pay for this already overcompensated effort.
According to Congressional Quarterly, the two pieces of legislation provide Bush with around $246
billion in funding for Iraq.
The bills also include stipulations requiring that soldiers be given adequate rest time in between service periods in Iraq.
The Senate measure calls for a complete pullout of troops by March 31,
2008, while the House plan requires an absolute withdrawal by August
31, 2008.
This difference, along with other gaps between the two plans, must be smoothed out before one measure hits Bush’s desk.
However, do not let the sight of a plan of action get you too excited.
Bush is inking up the big veto stamp as we speak.
Bush said – in a speech at a National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
meeting, it’s worth noting – “imposing … a date of withdrawal for
troops would be disastrous.”
The troop withdrawal effort in the measures from Congress is an
opposite endeavor from Bush’s new strategy, which involves the increase
of American troops by about 30,000.
A statement from the White House called for Congress to send the
president a “responsible bill that provides the funding and flexibility
our troops need.”
Mr. President, we are past flexibility.
Flexibility is what has gotten us to where we are now, which is, at my last calculation, going around
circle number 943.
With the president being the Commander in Chief of the military, decisions during wartime are, in most
cases, left up to him.
However, in situations like our current state of chaos, the president forfeits the right to be the sole decider.
Over the past few years, soldiers in Iraq have been overworked and without the necessary resources.
With the Democrats now dominating Congress, the Republicans are being held accountable.
How do they respond? With a likely veto on the first concrete plan of action to end this occupation.
Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska was one of a few Republican senators who voted for the timetable bill.
“We have misunderstood, misread, misplanned and mismanaged our
honorable intentions in Iraq with an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent
of Vietnam,” Hagel said in a Washington Post article.
The time for saving face and resisting the blue of party lines is over.
Anyone can see the problem in a war without a plan to end.
In our current state, we are losing American lives not due to necessary
violence and combat, but because we do not have a strong enough plan to
save them.
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