House liberals force vote on pullout from Afghanistan

[ProSense]

In Session

House liberals force vote on pullout from Afghanistan

By Perry Bacon Jr.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Liberals in the House, who have spent much of the past year complaining that other congressional Democrats and the White House are insufficiently progressive, will get a chance this week to vent about one of their biggest concerns: the war in Afghanistan.

House leaders will allow three hours of formal debate, probably Wednesday, on an antiwar resolution written by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), one of the leading antiwar voices in Congress. The resolution, which has 16 co-sponsors, calls for the United States to remove all of its troops from Afghanistan in 30 days -- or by the end of the year, if it is determined that trying to do so in a month would be too dangerous.

The resolution will invoke the 1973 War Powers Act, which Congress passed in protest of the escalation of the Vietnam War by a series of presidents without formal congressional authorization. It requires congressional approval for a president to put troops in a military conflict for more than 90 days. Congress passed a resolution authorizing military force in Afghanistan in 2001, after the Sept. 11 attacks, and some congressional scholars doubt Congress can invoke the act now to force changes to President Obama's war policy.

Whether or not it would have any legal force if enacted, the resolution has almost no chance of being approved in the House, where nearly all Republicans and many Democrats support maintaining or increasing troop levels.

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Or nine months from now, what happened to immediately? Who is going to determine if it's too dangerous?

[mdmc]

1. God bless those cut and runners

[ProSense]

2. This bill proves a lot. n/t

[nyc 4 Biden]

5. sarcasm? n/t

[mdmc]

11. I personally consider myself a cut and runner

I know there is no military victory. I know that we are there until we admit defeat and exit. We should have never gone in unless we were ready to sink 100 years of blood and treasure into rebuilding Afghanistan.
I think that the American people should have been told how much it would cost to occupy Afghanistan until victory conditions could be met (a stable, unified, pro-west, secular Afghanistan). Each citizen should have been told how much this military effort would cost them each month.
I bet if each American was told that it would cost them $100.oo per month to overthrow the Taliban and establish a new government, and that we may be there as long a 100 years. If we knew how much this would cost us, we would think twice before fighting wars of choice.

[jaxx]

3. Kucinich and Paul, that's an interesting combo.

[HughMoran]

8. Very similar in many ways actually

Not surprising to see them team up...

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

9. They have about the same record of achievement. (nt)

[HughMoran]

10. Now, cut that out!

:spray:

[tekisui]

4. A year is reasonable. Adding more troops is unreasonable.

[harkadog]

6. Since when did Ron Paul become a House liberal?

[denimgirly]

7. Why is it when Big Money can be made ALL Republicans and Most Dems always vote in favor of it?

War is a big time money maker for private companies so it is no surprise all republicans and most democrats support more wars, all the time, for as long as possible. But just once i would love to see a consensus from both parties against some Big Money venture.

[grahamhgreen]

12. How many GI's must die for the Islamic republic we set up in Afghanistan?