Tell truth on troops' stay, says Feinstein

[Kadie]

Tell truth on troops' stay, says Feinstein
She implores Bush to acknowledge need will last years

Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Saturday, December 4, 2004

Washington -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, fresh from what she called a "very sobering'' one-day trip to Iraq, challenged President Bush on Friday to "tell the American people the truth'' that large numbers of U.S. forces would have to stay in Iraq for several years.

Feinstein was one of four senators who flew to Baghdad and Fallujah on Thursday to meet with American commanders and soldiers and Iraqi leaders. She said the experience of being shuttled around Baghdad by heavily armed guards while wearing an armored vest inside an armored vehicle and flown to and from Fallujah at 100 feet above ground in a Blackhawk helicopter showed that security in the Sunni heartland of Iraq remained a major challenge 1 1/2 years after Saddam Hussein was ousted.

Feinstein, who voted in October 2002 for the resolution authorizing Bush to begin military operations in Iraq, said the president's decision this week to increase U.S. forces in Iraq from 138,000 to 150,000 before the scheduled Jan. 30 Iraqi elections was "long overdue.''

But she said the president must tell the American people that troops would have to stay in Iraq "for a substantial period of time.''

"The rumor in the souk (the marketplace in Iraqi towns) is that we'll start to pull out after the elections," the Democrat said. "I believe the American people have to be told the truth.

more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/04/MNGNOA6JR61.DTL

[mike_c]

1. DINO....

And my senator, to my everlasting shame.

[OKNancy]

2. She's still one thousand times better

than the majority in the Senate. Including the two asswipes in my state. I wish she was my Senator.

[ElectroPrincess]

3. Ya got that right "Boomer Sooner" Gal :-)

I'd take Feinstein over Allen and Warner (R-VA) anytime. Warner isn't too bad ... tries to be fair but right wing fossil attitudes prevail ... but when Allen opens his mouth to speak I'm embarrassed for my state. :(

BTW I hope the day will come again when I can once again claim the Nebraska Cornhuskers without ridicule. <blush>

Go Big Red!

[leftofcool]

10. and those asswipes

are such idiots. I am almost embarrassed to say I am from Oklahoma. I got out to a blue state.

Leftofcool

[jobycom]

23. Ditto, I'd take her over either of mine, too

Here in Texas.

[lynx rufus]

4. Is she coached by Lo Blow Lieberman?

Does she wear a "W is my President" lapel pin?
Why isn't she demanding our withdrawl from Iraq ASAP?

[mike_c]

7. Di Fi betrayed her constituents big time with her IWR vote....

Calls and letters to her office were something like 95 percent opposed. Even her staffers seemed stunned after her vote. She'll never demand withdrawal from Iraq-- her husband profits from military contracts, and she bears the same IWR stigma that John Kerry bore. Given her position on the Senate Intelligence Committee, she either KNEW the pre-war justifications were lies and voted to approve anyway or she has participated in the post-war whitewash to cover dubya's ass (and her own, in the bargain). Personally, I think she knew, but thought it would be a quick little war generating a national patriotic love fest that all the pols who approved would benefit from.

[aquart]

9. Please. Schumer and Clinton voted for IWR, too.

I don't suggest either one of them run for higher office.

[EFerrari]

15. Diane, or our local republican as many of us call her,

responded to a pre-war email by saying 1) She had special secret knowledge that I didn't have and 2)Diplomacy had failed. "So, now we must go to war."

Imagine her chagrin when they published parts of the pre-war NIE *with* all the qualifiers. Mendacity.

Why do I think I remember that her husband's company got a contract to build Centcom?

[VegasWolf]

21. I also remember her saying or hinting that she had secret knowledge.

She bought the repuke propaganda hook, line, and sinker on
the Iraq war.

[mountebank]

5. I just can't forgive her for her IWR vote.

It was widely reported that she was receiving thousands of e-mails, letters, and phone calls from her constituents urging her by a ratio of something like 20:1 to vote AGAINST the IWR. (I personally wrote three and had one of them signed by 20 people in my department at school.) In the end, she cited secret evidence presented to her in the Senate and voted for the IWR completely against the will of her constituents. Of course that evidence we now know was completely bogus. Yet, to my knowledge, she's never given a proper accounting of her decision.

There is no way she's getting my vote in the next election.

[Barkley]

19. Write On mountebank! DiFi needs to give an account of her vote!

I am with you all the way!

Dump Diane!

[hangloose]

6. So what is the solution? More troops, less troops, no troops?

[dkofos]

12. NO TROOPS

Pack them up and bring them home.
Before another one dies.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

[VegasWolf]

22. Absolutely, lets not do the Vietnam solution throwing more troops

at an non winable war. Our children deserve better.

[KDLarsen]

26. Oh that'll be fun to watch..

.. I think it's time for people to wake up and smell the brew. The US is entrenched in Iraq, and is going to be for quite a while. By removing Saddam, they've pretty much taken over his role as supressor. There are 3 major fractions in Iraq, all whom are eager to get the power, and they're not afraid to do whatever it takes. What do you think is going to happen to Iraq if the US pulls out all of their troops?

The only thing I can imagine is that the 3 fractions will descend on each other, each trying to come out as the sole survivor. Who knows how many terroists will be going to Iraq to recieve some real training. Training that I'm pretty sure they'll be happy to apply to the US.

The only thing the US can do now, is to get the UN/NATO/EU in on this, since they're the only ones who have a somewhat larger fraction of the military that the US has. This is the only thing that can prevent more US troops being deployed there. The US forces that are there, had better cancel any magazine subscriptions, because they ain't going to be leaving any time soon.

[leftchick]

8. Why is it so hard to say you were wrong???

I am so sick of this bullshit about more troops. More troops will just mean more killed and for what??? Sen. Feinstein and the rest who rolled over for the IWR need to come out and say they were mislead by chimpass*, that the US occupying a country is WRONG and it is time to bring the troops home NOW!

[Barkley]

20. leftchick, your comments are always on the mark!

I also like your news posts!

Keep it strong!

[leftchick]

24. why thank you Barkley!

That was very kind.

:hi:

[HeeBGBz]

11. There was a soldier at my work today.

I guess he made it home for Christmas. He said he should have been out of the military 6 months ago, but they won't let him out and he's ready to retire. They are sending him back to Iraq.

He said we'll never be out of there.

[gratuitous]

13. Ha ha, good one, Dianne!

Why would this administration suddenly start telling people the truth? Lying has worked so well so far, and you know damn well the popular media aren't going to say anything about it. And three days from now, you won't be saying squat-ah either. Are you, Senator?

[Sandpiper]

14. FU Di Fi

Your vote helped this situation to come about.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

16. She's a DLC member and has a huge military presence in her state.

While it was brave of her to fly in to Iraq, nevermind Fallujah (!!), it's too bad she had a hand in making all those people die.

My senator. Hmmph.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

17. The difference between Nam and Iraq

Is that we've created a monster in Iraq. What Feinstein wants will probably lead to a draft.

[Barkley]

18. I won't vote for "DiFI" again, I hope Barbara Lee runs for Senate and

Barbara Striesand takes on Arnold in '06.

DiFi needs to demand an exit strategy from Bush not more troops.

Pell grants for low-income college students are being cut but money for troops in Iraq is increasing.

What message is our government sending to poor people?

I teach college in California. California's higher education system is in trouble.

I have students working two and three jobs and taking full loads.

And California has a relatively inexpensive system.

Military contracts are important to California's economy but oil is more imporant too; California gets 20% of its oil from Iraq.

We also have several large military bases in San Diego.

DiFi like Hilary is planning to run nationally; they need red-state appeal to win in the backwards areas of the nation.

[leesa]

25. She wants lots of war and lots of troops. Can't imagine why!