Check and balance--Democrats make a valuable contribution to the Iraq debate

[Kolesar]

The Akron Beacon Journal

Check and balance
Democrats make a valuable contribution to the Iraq debate

Democrats in Congress must have known the endgame. President Bush would stick with his pledge to veto any spending bill for the Iraq mission that included a timetable for troop withdrawal, and Democrats would lack the numbers on Capitol Hill to force a White House reversal. Thus, the Democratic leadership folded its hand this week, a vote likely today on a $120 billion spending bill that will go quickly to the president for his signature.

...ought to click the link to read the two paragraphs about Pelosi and Reid I deleted for copyright reasons...

Truth be told, there is a timetable at work. Virtually all the players, from Congress to the Pentagon, have in mind the end of September, the completion of the fiscal year and, more, a logical time to measure the president's ``surge,'' the bid to curb the violence in Baghdad, so Iraqi pols can govern, more or less. Then, there is 2008, Republicans seeking to avoid the burden of a failed mission in an election year.

In that way, many Democrats know how much Republicans would like to tag them with ``losing'' Iraq. That charge (weak as it is) may resonate when funds for the troops are delayed.

Better to recognize the limits of your influence. Democrats can take credit for accelerating the White House search for the next step in Iraq. If the early reporting from the Washington Post and others is accurate, the president has started to see the merit of ideas advanced by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group and many Democrats, the United States reducing its military profile, signaling to Iraqis, in a significant way, the future of your country belongs to you.

[John Q. Citizen]

1. In other words, the Dems and the Repos are playing politics with our troops, and with

the people of Iraq.

It's a game, a power struggle, and the lives of the pawns mean nothing to either side, really.

[Demeter]

2. Yup. Just Like Der Feuhrer Busholini.