Posted on 03/01/2009 12:56:39 PM PST by smoothsailing
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Battle building amongst Dems over Iraq troop-reduction plan Chief Congressional Correspondent 3/1/09
 . . Congressional Democrats’ misgivings about President Barack Obama’s plan to reduce troop levels in Iraq has set the stage for potentially major conflicts between Capitol Hill and the White House in the months ahead. Obama’s announcement Friday that he will leave between 35,000 and 50,000 troops in Iraq after August 2010 brought lukewarm responses from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Both leaders have publicly questioned the decision to leave that many troops there indefinitely. Also causing consternation is the president’s decision to finish the drawdown in 18 months. As a candidate, Obama had promised a complete withdrawal within 16 months. The response from the most liberal wing of the Democratic caucus which has been fighting for years to end the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan was swift and stern. California Rep. Lynn Woolsey, head of the 70-odd member House Out-of-Iraq Caucus, called Obama’s announcement “totally unacceptable.” Woolsey, like other members the Out-of-Iraq Caucus, believes leaving any large presence in the country would signal that the United States intends to remain “as an enduring occupational force.” Woolsey, in a statement responding to the proposal, also reminded Obama, “The American public supported him in record numbers last November in large part due to his pledge to finally end our occupation of Iraq, and bring our brave men and women home to their families.” Many other Democrats in addition to Woolsey are also upset by the proposal, according to Democratic aides. There will likely be an effort to by House and Senate Democrats to reduce the number of troops proposed in the plan before the White House asks Congress for supplemental money needed to fund both wars. Such a request is expected some time in the spring, according to Democratic aides. “I don’t think we should leave any troops there,” Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who heads the defense appropriations subcommittee that allocates war funds, told The Examiner. “What I have suggested is we move out of Iraq and we leave a force in Kuwait and I hope we will be able to convince the administration of that.” Woolsey and others were not comforted by the fact that Obama has pledged to have all troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011. That is because Obama also left himself some flexibility to leave troops there if the situation in the country deteriorates, a move that also helped him gain the backing of Republicans. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a harsh critic of Obama’s Iraq strategy during the campaign, in a Senate floor speech Friday offered his support for the proposal, based in part on the president’s “willingness to reassess based on conditions on the ground.” That flexibility could be a real sticking point with Democrats. “We need pledge that is crystal clear, no doubt about it, troops are going home,” said one Democratic aide. “Without that, it’s not really something we can get behind.” When Obama asks Congress for additional spending for Iraq, it will likely be lumped with his request for additional funds for Afghanistan. Some Democrats believe that funding could be an even bigger sticking point with the Out-of-Iraq Democrats, since the money would be used to escalate the war, not end it. Woolsey told The Examiner recently that she and other Democrats question putting more troops in the country. “I’m sure there are a great number of use who are not expecting to leave Iraq and just move over the border to Afghanistan,” Woolsey said. “I need to know what the mission is and why he is there. We are certainly not going to be able to force Democracy down the barrel of a gun there any more than in Iraq.” |
Murtha Watch Ping!
Fat Jack the Porker really needs to give it a rest.
Muck Furtha!
Domestic Enemy #1
And Charlie Rangel was calling for reinstating the draft (yeah, right!). He's on exactly the same page with Murtha and the other treasonous demonRats...
From the website of the Workers World Party:
"Dear Comrade Kim Jong Il...
With his leadership [Kim Il Sung], the Korean people defeated the Japanese colonial occupation and soon after brought about the first defeat of the U.S. imperialist military machine. ...
Workers World Party values our close, comradely relations with the Workers Party of Korea very highly. We are proud to have known Kim Il Sung as a great leader and a comrade in the international communist movement. ..."
With comradely solidarity, Sam Marcy Chairperson, Workers World Party" (1994):
http://www.workers.org/marcy/cd/sam94/1994html/s940721.htm
___________________________________________________________
Workers World
55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news
http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php
International Action Center
55 W 17th St #5C
New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646
iacenter@action-mail.org
ndomtickets@safewebmail.com
www.iacenter.org
[http://www.iacenter.org/polprisoners/dom-2007.htm]
Troops Out Now Coalition
55 W. 17th St. #5C
NY NY 10011
www.TroopsOutNow.org
____________________________________________________
Photo of Charlie Rangel at the podium of a March 19th, 2005 Workers World Party/Troops Out Now rally in Harlem, New York. The occasion marked the 2nd anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. The photo comes from the ("We are proud to have known Kim Il Sung as a great leader and a comrade in the international communist movement. ...") Workers World Party website.
Also appearing at this "peace" rally with the demonRat Charlie Rangel, now chairman of The House Ways and Means Committee, were Saddam Hussein lawyer, Ramsey Clark and convicted terrorist enabler/attorney, Lynne Stewart. Clark, with Workers World Party, started up that other 'peace' group, A.N.S.W.E.R. Clark also heads the International Action Center and was actually once Attorney General of the United States under democrat LBJ.
Source for the photos: Workers World Party website (workers.org)
http://www.workers.org/march19/index2.html
Poor old Murtha, he can hear the hounds barking. What you gonna do when they come for you ...
I think this is another distraction. Here we are gleefully watching the dimwits beat each other up.
This is not what we should be doing. We should be tending to business and that is finding a leader.
Forget the dimwits; let them dig their own holes. I am not saying don’t pay some attention to them. Just pick out the parts that important and leave the rest to dry up in the wind. Eventually, they will do themselves in.
Thanks for the ping, Smooth.
To be added to the Murtha Watch ping list please notify myself or RedRover.
You bet. But I must say I'm a bit confused. I thought Murtha really wanted to pull the troops back to Okinawa. The fool just can't make up his mind.
Hah! That’s a great depiction of ole sad sack.
Here is a man who stole from the American people and gave it to his friends. He calls Soldiers murderers, he lies in front of congress, he tells his constituents to shove it.....
And they keep voting for him.
Has the media ever went to his district, grabbed a supporter and asked,”why?”
The media in and around his district are mostly in the tank for him.
The owner of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Richard Mellon Scaife, has endorsed him often and Scaife is supposed to be conservative. Ha!
Make it Milk Bones, Justa. Woof! Woof!
“to leave Iraq and just move over the border to Afghanistan”
Huh? Over what border? Iran?
I think Murtha, Pelosi, Reid and most liberals secretly want the United States Military humiliated. If they can get the stay-behind force small enough that it can’t defend itself, then maybe some of them will become prisoners and can be paraded around for the next few years for the benefit of the media, the modern-day Jane Fondas, and the college faculties. Murtha/Mutha, samey/same.
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