Bringing the Troops home is going to require four things in Congress.

[Perky]

The political realities are crystallizing and hardening:

We can get anything we want done in the the House but the power of 41 Republicans from deep red states are going to stifle anything beyond a rebuke that Bush is simply going to ignore or veto.

First, we need to recognize that ultimately this is not about slapping the President's hand or even his face. While it may feel good to do that its is just politics. This has to be about bigger issues. It can't even be about America's standing in the world. It has to be about troop readiness,our policies in the Middle East more generally and about war profiteering and about borrowing effectively from CHina to finance a war.


From an action list perspective:

1) We have to ensure that are troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are fully prepared and equipped to do their job. (THe Murtha Plan)

2) We need to require Bush to Engage other powers in the region. The Saudis, the Iranians and the Syrians in a regional summit. The sabre rattling is not really about imminent war with Iran as much as it is about justifying not talking to them about broader issues. We need a new resolution that implore the President to engage with the rest of the region and if it does not happen we need to cut off state department funding. This approach will break the back of Republican Senate.

3) We need Oversight and hearings on profiteering. This is where the the House and the Senate can really make the president look like an idiot and a poor manager and even cut into that 30% rock solid support. We need to tell the President that unless he changes his ways, we are going to make him look like the worst president of all time and make it very hard for even his most ardent supporter and presidential wannabees to continue to support him.

4) We can refuse to raise the debt ceiling or limit who can buy our debt.This will severely pinch having the dollars available,

The war over funding this misadventure needs to be about what happens if the surge does not work and the president's diligence on the four issues above. That is easy enough in the House with the upcoming supplemental. It will never pass the Senate. that's fine. That is where the Conference committee can hammer issues out in a way that require a new plan for Iraq and the region. The language that comes out of the conference is everything it must require the president to certify all of the above are being taken care of and have the implicit warning that a failure to do so will risk public sanction including impeachment.

[Perky]

1. kick