Posted on 08/31/2007 7:17:12 AM PDT by Froufrou
Saying the coming weeks will be "one of the last opportunities" to alter the course of the war, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said he is now willing to compromise with Republicans to find ways to limit troop deployments in Iraq.
Reid acknowledged that his previous firm demand for a spring withdrawal deadline had become an obstacle for a small but growing number of Republicans who have said they want to end the war but have been unwilling to set a timeline.
"I don't think we have to think that our way is the only way," Reid said of specific dates during an interview in his office here. "I'm not saying, 'Republicans, do what we want to do.' Just give me something that you think you would like to do, that accomplishes some or all of what I want to do."
Reid's unwavering stance this summer earned him critics who said he was playing politics by refusing to bargain with antiwar Republicans. In the interview, he said that his goal remains an immediate return of U.S. troops but that now is the time to work with the GOP.
He cited bringing up legislation after Labor Day that would require troops to have more home leave, forcing military leaders to reduce troop levels, a measure that has drawn some Republican support.
During the week of Sept. 10, Congress will hear a progress report on the war from the U.S. commander in Baghdad, Gen. David H. Petraeus, and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan C. Crocker. After those hearings and a formal report from President Bush, lawmakers will renew their debate on the war.
That debate screeched to a halt in late July after the most poisonous confrontation since Democrats took control of Congress eight months ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Ouch!
“My only disagreement with you is that we aren’t winning, we already won. The war going on now is a civil war within Iraq. We won the war within the first 6 weeks.”
Excellent point and I concur 100%. Now it is time to leave. Staying in Iraq is a mistake. We need to secure our borders at home and redouble our efforts to capture and/or kill Osama bin Laden.
What is even more amazing than the fecklessness shown by congressional democrats is the bile and hatred evident in the comments that are posted following this WaPo article. The leftwing in the USA are a hateful, delusional, vile bunch who are only interested in undermining GWB and the Administration as means to their own political ends. I don’t know where these individuals come from in our country. Perhaps they should move to, say, a muslim-dominated country to see how they would fare.
Ain’t a dime’s worth of difference between GWB and Harry Reid on the Iraq war. Flame away....but he the truth is that (rhetoric to the contrary) the Democrats have give the president everything he wants thus far, and show every sign of continuing to do so.
I don’t think anyone can arbitrarily say the war was a mistake. What if he’d sat back and done nothing? Where would Saddam be now? Where would we be? Would NY still be there, at all, in any form?
People will say forever that #43 was the worst president we ever had because that’s what the media spoon feeds. They said bad things about Harry Truman, too. It’s tough at the top, being fearless enough to do what must be done.
Paul/Reid 2008
I echo your sentiment, but victory (for America, and thus, Bush) is precisely what Reid is trying to prevent.
What will happen if we leave before we achieve victory?
The terrorists whether they are Al Qaeda or the Iranian and Syrian terrorist regimes or a combination of all of them will not only control Iraq but the whole Middle East and with it come consequences to the US and the West that is worse the most horrible nightmares we can imagine. The islamic terrorists will be emboldened beyond imagination and they will have millions of recruits and volunteers ready to fight and destroy the world to establish their seventh century islamic society and Caliphate. The islamic terrorists will use the hundreds of billions of dollars from oil revenues to conduct terrorists attacks that are hundreds of folds more horrible, more deadly, and more destructive than the 9/11 terrorists attacks, including the use of nuclear weapons. They will also use the oil weapon to blackmail the Western and the world economy and bring it to its knees.
If some terrorists dwelling in camps in Afghanistan with a limited budget and few volunteers were able to do 9/11 terrorist attacks, killed 3000 people and caused one trillion dollars in economic losses, imagine the incredible horrors that the terrorists can inflict on us if they control the whole Middle East and it vast revenues.
Any person who has a shred of patriotism and a basic common sense will realize that we simply cannot afford to leave Iraq before we defeat terrorism there.
Warner is, has always been, a RHINO. Davis USED to be a good Conservative.
I wish I could argue with you but I cannot. Our president had us stay to show goodwill, I suppose, and support.
I would have preferred to see us leave about a year ago. That was when so many friends were deployed, so I must confess my opinion is tainted with emotion. :o(
~snorrfle!~
To Washington Post: Real conservatives call them RINO’s.
Does this mean Reid has surrendered on surrender?
Iraq isn’t the center of the WOT. There is no center for the WOT. It’s here in America, and in Pakistan, and Egypt, and the West Bank, and Syria and Iran, in Chechnya and London and Stockholm and Amsterdam. Going to Iraq made us lose focus on the main culprits, Al Queda and Osama. Now we have created more Al Queda just by going to Iraq, and we have strengthened Iran and Syria’s standing in the region. It’s terrorism. Radical, theocratic, fascist terrorism. We can only marginalize and hurt it, we will never crush it unless we kill every Muslim person on the globe.
Geez, you have raised short sighted to a level never before seen.
Which is worse - playing footsie with an undercover cop in an airport bathroom stall, or playing ball with a Democrat who wants to lose the war in Iraq? Which will get the most calls for resignation from the Republican leadership?
With Craig’s resignation poised for announcement today, I’d say you and I can predict an answer to your question with razorlike accuracy. ;o)
I’m looking at world history here and recent American history, for example the example of Reagan in Beirut.
I would love for you to elaborate.
Sounds like the Vietnam scenario, but this time with paid help.
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