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Except we are not a nation at war !

Yes and no. If we go back in time to around the 60s, Congress cut itself a cozy deal with the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. While the Tonkin Gilf Resolution ended up being based on an incident that never happened, it allowed the Congress to duck its Constitutional duty to formally declare war and allowed the President to introduce troops to Vietnam. At that point, the donnybrook was on and the Congress proceeded to snipe at the president (regardless who it was) until Nixon haggled us out of Vietnam at any price. It is worthwhile to note that, at the height of the bitterness, between Congress and the President over Vietnam (I think during Nixon's administration), Congress would cut off the funding for the war. That meant that troops on the ground, in theater, had no money for bombs, bullets, mortars, artillery shells, or gas for airplanes. Meanwhile, the VC had free reign to shoot our guys down as they so pleased. How many men did Congress kill by this reckless and careless behavior? How many extra names were added to The Wall because of it? The next month, Congress and the President would kiss and make up and Congress would turn the money back on. This went on for about a year and a half, before the issue was resolved once and for all.

In the 70s or 80s, Congress was so enamored of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, they passed the War Powers Act that allows the President to commit troops to any combat zone for up to 90 days without authoriization from Congress. And, when a President would use the War Powers Act that Congress gave them, those gutless cowards in the Congress would start sniping again.

In essence, this is where we are with Iraq, today. Congress gave Bush the authorization to commit the troops and, since that time, they have done nothing but snipe. Maybe, we should schedule a week long, mandatory viewing of World Trade Center for Congress until they remember why we went to Afghanistan and Iraq in the first place.

What we are seeing is the Tonkin Gulf Resolution being played over and over. The Congress has found a great way to duck its obligations and blame the president. It's too bad that Bush won't speak up and remind the nation that THEY authorized sending troops to fight the WOT. They way these gutless cowards talk, you'd think that Bush cooked the whole thing up and executed the plan all by himself. Not bad for someone that the left castigates as "dumb"!