Democratic senators considering new war authorization measure

[babylonsister]

http://news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg?articleid=183656

Democratic senators considering new war authorization measure
By Associated Press
Sunday, February 18, 2007 - Updated: 12:14 PM EST

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats said Sunday they might try to restrict President Bush’s ability to wage war in Iraq by approving a more limited version of the 2002 measure that authorized the use of force against Saddam Hussein.

After a week of contentious debate in Congress on Bush’s war strategy, the White House scoffed at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s claim that U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 has become “the worst foreign policy mistake” in U.S. history.

“The war is tough, but the solution is not to get out. It is to provide the kinds of resources and reinforcements our forces need to get the job done, and at the same time say to the Iraqis ‘You guys got to step up,”’ press secretary Tony Snow said.


Two Senate committee chairmen spoke of possibly modifying the 2002 resolution that authorized Bush to go to war.
““That was a wide-open authorization which allowed him to do just about anything and put us now deep into combat in Iraq,” said Sen. Carl Levin, who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“We can modify the authorization in order to provide a much more limited mission which will remove our troops from the middle of a sectarian civil war,” said Levin, D-Mich.

Sen. Joe Biden, a 2008 presidential candidate who leads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke of repealing that original authorization and restating the president’s authority, to clarify the current mission of U.S. troops in Iraq.
“I’ve been working with some of my colleagues to try to convince them that that’s the way to go ... make it clear that the purpose that he has troops in there is to, in fact, protect against al-Qaida gaining chunks of territory, training the Iraqi forces, force protection and for our forces,” said Biden, D-Del.

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[itsmesgd]

1. when's the vote to determine if they can debate on a vote to debate a debate about the vote?

Let's not talk about what we're gonna maybe sometime do. They could not even pass a vote on a non binding resolution that criticized the shrub, so now we're supposed to believe that they are actually gonna try to "do" something?

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. I wish to hell that Barbara Tuchman was still alive....

to write a new chapter for "The March of Folly". This misadventure certainly tops any of the existing chapters in her book.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Why not introduce a Senate version of the Murtha bill?

You know, the one that says money will only be forthcoming when the troops are equipped and trained--and that they have to have a year between employments to a war theater?