House, Senate Democrats plan another Iraq strategy

Source: the hill


http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/house-senate-democrats-plan-another-iraq-strategy-2007-11-07.html

House, Senate Democrats plan another Iraq strategy
By Manu Raju and Mike Soraghan
November 07, 2007

Four powerful lawmakers are working on a new Iraq plan for the Democratic Congress in the hope it will reignite the war debate as soon as this week.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said the new legislation might include interim “bridge funds” providing partial military funding for the Iraq war as well as a mandate to change the mission of the U.S. military to counterterrorism and other operations. He also said it could include a goal of completing a troop withdrawal within nine months.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Levin, along with Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) and House Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.) are working on “policy-changing” Iraq legislation that could be introduced as early as this week.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says the basis of the plan is identical to previous bills moved by the Democratic majority, such as the withdrawal plan that the House passed in July and the war supplemental that President Bush vetoed in May.



Read more: http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/house-senate-democrats-plan-another-iraq-strategy-2007-11-07.html

Democratic leaders are not seeking input from the most avidly anti-war legislators in the Out of Iraq caucus, where lawmakers are growing frustrated with inaction on Iraq.

“I’m frustrated that while we drift, our troops are being killed and injured,” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), a co-founder of the Out of Iraq caucus.

Pelosi acknowledged the frustration Tuesday, saying, “If there’s anything I’ve been disappointed in, it’s been that failure” to end the war. Asked why she doesn’t end the war on her own, she said, “Would that I had that power.”
Reed said he expected the approach to be resolved in the “next couple of days. . . . It’s not like we can put these decisions off any longer.”

Speaking with reporters after Tuesday’s Democratic policy luncheon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) punted when asked about his plans to take up a bridge fund.

Everyday I read something else that let's me know that~

Seems to me that the votes in Congress have "just enough" votes by Democrats to make us not win anything.

Maybe I'm missing something but that is how I feel.

Bush is a moderate; not that much difference; they're all alike.

BULLSHIT.

THEY'RE NOT ALL THE SAME.

There, I've said it and I feel better.

is what we know to be true and what is predictable. That the current Congressional Dem makeup is not 100% progressive or heroic or consistently rational and devoted enough to the law to set aside politics. That on the other hand they are not universal villains, corrupt and conspiratorial with the GOP against our interests. The strange mix is frustrating even as we mix in new wine into the old wineskins, get nauseous about the behavior we really could have known no matter how we cheer on their endeavor to act, speak out out and maybe lead. being patient with children is something we are familiar with. No, it is weirdly unacceptable to have to treat our avowed leadership the same way.

So we have a crisis of reaction, a love/hate relationship ruled more by confusion than passion or cause.
This is not what a dangerous crisis calls for. This is not the right stuff. The right stuff so far has been seen in the powerless few, the whistleblowers, the outspoken critics, unexpected voices like John Dean and certain Conservatives. We have grown accustomed to seeing the Box cheer on the heroes and stand tall themselves. That was always an illusion even though anyone getting their cues from national media forums is openly betrayed as compared to the muddle of the Dems(who seem to have been watching too much TV themselves). While we have this means of communication we are not only not alone but are united on certain truths we hold to be self evident- outside the phony Foggy Bottom scene. That facts outweigh propaganda and the law has priority over entitled position and all crime. That common sense and predictability is not determined by spin campaigns, but that attention can be diverted, action slowed and
frustrated.

That all men are created equal and all that jazz. And the entire Bush White House should be singing in the prison glee club, equally, along with all profiteers, election fixers, slave labor advocates and lawmakers who have abused the public trust to destroy it for the sake of a greed empire. And that real Conress representatives will never get anything done while such people are in charge of everything including the debate, the machinery of discussion and the outcomes.

I have been totally aware since yesterday's vote for DK, and with Impeach -- what happened to our good old Democrats that KNOW that a huge percentage of the population want Cheney impeached!

There's a simple solution already out there to end this war, but our Dem leaders are too cowardly to do it. Instead they propose these half measures with little chance of success to placate the grassroots and general outrage over their latent enabling role for the Chimperior.

fail because of political cowardice.

HEY DEM LEADERSHIP...Why in the HELL do you keep insisting on bringing up legislation that gives the Republican party another opportunity for a political win at the expense of the Democrats? The party has no spine strong enough to stand up to Republican threats.

The ONLY way this Congress can end this war is to refuse to offer ANY plan that funds the war. You don't NEED votes when there is NO FUNDING BILL TO VOTE ON. Don't allow any bill to the floor that keeps funding of the war without troop withdrawal.

Get a damned clue.