Webb: No permanent presence without Congress’s consent.

[kpete]

Webb: No permanent presence without Congress’s consent.

Bush recently announced a new, “enduring” occupation of Iraq, to be implemented without Congress’ approval. Today, Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA), Bob Casey (D-PA), Robert Byrd (D-WV), Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Carl Levin (D-MI) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) warned Bush against committing the U.S. to a long-term presence without congressional consent:

We want to convey our strong concern regarding any commitments made by the United States with respect to American security assurances to Iraq to help deter and defend against foreign aggression or other violations of Iraq’s territorial integrity. Security assurances, once made, cannot be easily rolled back without incurring a great cost to America’s strategic credibility and imperiling the stability of our nation’s other alliances around the world.

It is unacceptable for your Administration to unilaterally fashion a long-term relationship with Iraq without the full and comprehensive participation of Congress from the very start of such negotiations.

We trust you agree that the proposed extension of long-term U.S. security commitments to a nation in a critical region of the world requires the full participation and consent of the Congress as a co-equal branch of our government.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/12/06/webb-no-permanent-presence-without-congresss-consent/

[Selatius]

1. This isn't like keeping troops in Germany and Japan today. Iraq is a wholly different situation.

1. Germany/Japan were culturally homogenous. Iraq is almost like the Balkans. If they're not killing US troops, they're killing each other.

2. German and Japanese civilians were bombarded over the course of several years, with several million casualties in the final toll. Few people of fighting age were left to resist. The ones who could apparently lost the will to resist, as the post-war occupation was relatively bloodless with no enduring guerrilla resistance movement.

3. The occupation of Germany/Japan were well-executed with much financial aid given to rebuild the shattered infrastructure and restart the economy. Anybody who was still agnostic with the occupation were won over with rapid reconstruction. In contrast, the reconstruction of Iraq has proven to be an almost complete failure with a devastated economy, leaving many people unemployed and many people angry at the US, fertile breeding ground for the resistance.

[williesgirl]

2. * will tell them to fuck off, or not even bother, and do what he wants. rec'd