By a vote of 218-212 and with only two Republicans joining the majority, the House votes on a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq: “The bill would establish strict standards for resting, training and equipping combat troops before their deployment and lay down binding benchmarks for the Iraqi government, such as assuming control of security operations, quelling sectarian violence and more equitably distributing oil revenue. If progress is not made toward those benchmarks, some troops would be required to come home as early as July. In any event, troop withdrawals would have to begin in March 2008, with all combat forces out by Aug. 31, 2008.” For now, and as with the persecuted prosecutors, Dubya is trying to play the partisanship card, and, in any case, the bill has a tough road to hoe in the Senate, where similar legislation received only 48 votes last time around. But, give them credit: While navigating a few defections on either side of the issue, Speaker Pelosi & co. put money where their mouths were last election season. Indeed, the WP deems the bill “one of the toughest antiwar measures ever to pass a house of Congress during combat operations.”
One thought on “The House: Get Out.”
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Good for them. In any kind of sane political climate, this would be the death-knell for the war whether it passed the Senate or not, because sane politicians would see the writing on the wall. But, Bush already had his chance to do that in a much less adversarial climate with the ISG, and rejected it with prejudice. Presumably he’ll do the same here, and then it comes down to whether the Dems are, or should be willing to actually de-fund a war in progress. I just don’t know if we can ask them to do that, or if it’s the right thing to do even if they were willing to try it. This is why you don’t let presidents get us into disastrous wars of choice to begin with.
What I don’t quite get is why the GOP Congress is still being so disciplined? What on Earth can the White House do to any of them now? Shouldn’t they be doing their best to repudiate the Bush wing of the party to save their own skins in ’08 and beyond? What could they have possibly done to make even a Chuck Hagel go silent after coming out very strongly against the war? What can they possibly do for or to him going forward? The behind-the-scenes history of all of this, if it ever comes out, is going to be a fascinating and terrifying read.