Senators Debate The Troop Surge

Senators Webb, Specter and McConnell Appeared On Face The Nation

(CBS)  As the political debate over the Iraq war intensifies, some Congressional Republicans are joining their Democratic colleagues in opposition to President Bush's plan to send more American troops into the fight. The Republican leadership, however, is standing behind the president.

Appearing on Face The Nation Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., joined Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., in criticizing the president's "surge" of troops.

"I cannot support sending additional troops to Iraq," Specter said. "The plan is not working because it requires Iraq to do some things which Iraq doesn't have the will or the capability to do, and that is to stifle the sectarian disagreements and also to secure Baghdad."

But, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel, R-Kentucky, said he supported Mr. Bush and will work to prevent the Senate from passing any of the various resolutions which oppose the administration's position.

"What I'll be doing is trying to appeal to my Republican colleagues to not pass a nonbinding resolution that basically says to the troops who are going there this is a mission that doesn't have a chance of succeeding," McConnel told Bob Schieffer.

McConnell said that Republicans would not filibuster any of the resolutions, but the minority party will ask to vote on all of the resolutions at once – meaning it will take 60 votes to pass any one of them.

"I am not certain that any of these will get 60 votes," McConnell said. "We'll find out in the coming week or two."

Specter, McConnell's fellow Republican, said he wasn't sure how he will vote on the Senate's resolutions.

"I'm going to wait until we debate it on the floor," Specter said. "The Senate has a reputation for being the world's greatest deliberative body, and I think we ought to deliberate on it."

Webb, who delivered the blistering Democratic response to the State of the Union on Tuesday night, said the Democrats are not opposed to any one specific plan for the war.

"Having given this administration four years to try to come up with a strategy where there's a clearly articulable end point, which we don't have now, that's the problem so many people have," he said.

He said the new majority is demanding a comprehensive strategy that will work.

"One thing that I've seen over and over again here is that, when things go wrong, they go to the American military," Webb said, "that when all else fails, we decide we're going to throw more military people in, rather than trying to go into the political solutions, which are going to be the way that this is going to be resolved."

Webb said that a regional accord is necessary for there to be peace in Iraq because other countries play such an important role for the various ethnicities within Iraq.

"This is a five-sided problem now. And the way that you deal with a five-sided problem is boldly stepping forward and bringing them to the table so no one is on the outside and forcing some sort of a solution," he said.

While Webb said he was "concerned" about how reconstruction funds were being spent in Iraq, but did not talk about cutting off the funding for the war.

Specter said that it would be premature to talk about changing policy by using the power of the purse.

"Whenever we talk about funding, Bob, we have to have as our base of premise that we'll do nothing to endanger the troops who are there," Specter said. "But there are precedents for cutting off funding – as to Cambodia, as to Laos, as to Vietnam – and in 1974, the legislation required that there be no more than 4,000 troops in Vietnam within six months, and 3,000 within a year. So there are precedents, but we have to handle that very gingerly."

Minority Leader McConnell also left open the door for Congress to control the war by controlling the budgets. He said that this is truly the last chance for Iraqis to "step up and do their part." If progress is not made, the House and Senate will have to re-evaluate.

"When we have the supplemental appropriation – that's the money, that's the real thing – I expect that there will be debates about cutting off funds at that time," McConnell said. "And so the Iraqis can expect--can expect that that debate is going to occur in the House and Senate in the very near future."

[jp0433]

I found it interesting that Senator McConnell said of this "surge" that it was the "last chance" for benchmarks or milestones for the Iraqi government to meet. (Nothing new here, same ole smoke and mirrors.)

But the most revealing bit of lunacy was when asked by Schieffer what happens if it fails, McConnells avoided answering the question directly by responding "we're not going to talk about failure, we're going to talk about success", tells me that THESE GUYS DON'T HAVE AN EXIT PLAN! Now that takes some planing!

Say a prayer for the common soldier

[usawatchman]

Sent to CBS

Jim Webb, D-Va Freudian slip = FACE THE NATION

Don't get me wrong , I think his heart was in the right place...
but this may be one of the reason

WE HAVE SO MANY PROBLEMS
WITH THE PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON DC..

When asked about the WAR protester in Washington DC
Jim Webb, D-Va said on Face the Nation

'' I have a strong belief that in this country,
one of our greatest strengths
is that we have the right to stand in front of the people in power
and state our views...''

PEOPLE IN POWER???

Jim Webb, D-Va , FYI (For Your Information)
WE THE PEOPLE , are the PEOPLE IN POWER
WE THE PEOPLE , are in CONTROL

All of the BUREAUCRATS and POLITICIANS
in Washington DC are there to REPRESENT US (The PEOPLE)


The people in Washington DC are
called '' REPRESENTATIVES ''
not the people in power....

[skyk-2009]

Anyone who votes for this Jerk McConnell or any of the rest of them should not call themselves American's. They are openly and blantlantly defying the will of the American People and they should NOT be in that position if they do not want to REPRESENT We the PEOPLE.

[randalds]

Too bad we don't have an intelligent commander in chief that could realize and accept his mistakes... and correct the situation.

Posted by tru_america1 at 08:39 AM : Jan 29, 2007

Amen. An intelligent president would have seen from the start that this was an unwinnable war in the position we were in. His father, or rather his father's brilliant advisor Brent Scowcroft, saw it and wisely backed away after the first Gulf War. While it's true the neocon puppeteers who pull Little George's strings went into this for their own insane greed and ideology, I believe Georgie's motivation was much more juvenile and childish. He just wanted to do something "daddy" wasn't able to do. He wanted to prove that he wasn't the family fu*ck-up (though as it turns out he still is) and prove his father wrong for favoring Jeb. Basically all of these people have died because of a dis-functional father/son relationship and that's the sickest part of it.

[mareason]

Sorry, the last sentence of my posting should read "understand THE concept". My bad. I don't want to dilute my message with bad grammar.

[mareason]

I think the comments about the war contractors are right on the mark (or the dollar). This war isn't about democracy, it's about profiteering big businesses who have been keeping the trough full in Washington. Eisenhower, who was a dedicated military leader first, and a politician second, warned against this. Privatizing the military has created the necessity of wars to fight as a source of corporate profit. They are stealing middle class and blue collar wages to bloat the military contractor fat cats, who then get their bought political toadies to vote them tax breaks. There should be no war unless the Congress is willing to go to the American people asd ask for the taxes to pay for it. The contractors, and many in Congress, have no compunctions about sacrificing the lives, and spilling the blood, of young Americans if it lines their pockets. (They should read what our founding fathers had to say about the patriotism of merchants!) We need for "honest politician" to stop being an oxymoron. And we need universal service so that the sons and daughters of the rich and powerful--like GW Bush--can get a taste of what life is like for the majority of Americans. Then they might understand to concept of "common good."

[drudge2]

How many demonstrators were there?

[drudge2]

Gee, if we had a "liberal media" it would be full of stories about the demonstrations for ending the war in Washington DC on Saturday. But then "liberal media" is just a lie told by the Cons. Instead the Neo-con media gives us headlines about body-counts of insurgents.

[fleshmonger6]

wow, suddenly the post appeared... my bad...

[fleshmonger6]

I find it very curious that when I was here posting on this story last night, there were pages of post and yet for some reason, anyone who would come here now would think that no one really cares about this story and there were some good post here.

[grumpas]

Iraq is never going to be a democracy...ever!!!! They had the concept forced on them by George W Bush! Who needed a reason to be in Iraq after his WMD lie fell through! This in itself is a recipe for disaster! Force-feeding people something they don't want or even comprehend does not work!!!! If a person is not willing to go out and fight for a democracy then where is the point???? Other than this is what Republican's WANT for Iraq!!! What is it going to take for these Hawk Republican's to get the basic fact through their thick heads??????

[skyk-2009]

WHAT about the PEOPLE? The American PEOPLE have made a very LOUD and CLEAR statement to ALL their Elected Representatives and that is being TOTALLY ignored. As A Combat Veteran of Vietnam, someone who has actually tried to fight WITH one side in a Civil War, I can tell you this is a wrong headed move. I have two good friends on that Wall in Washington who are there because members of the RVN Army turned on us during a fight. They aren't the only one's either. This is an impossible situation our kids are being put into and there will be so many more of them die because of it. In the end Iran will make buddies with their Shiite pals in Iraq and all those good kids will have died in vane... end of story.

[antoniof123]

Another day another dollar and what do I get out of it. More death and more dead when will you learn or are you just not listening anymore.

[karlimhof]

""What I'll be doing is trying to appeal to my Republican colleagues to not pass a nonbinding resolution that basically says to the troops who are going there this is a mission that doesn't have a chance of succeeding," McConnel told Bob Schieffer"

WRONG MR MCCONNEL: IT IS A VOTE OF NON-CONFIDENCE IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION AND THEIR LIE-LADEN IRAK POLICY - THAT'S ALL!

[gdmoore2]

"How does not sending an additional 20,000 troops, support the troops ?"

Easy. A surge slows down the withdrawal of all troops from a bad tactical position, thereby killing fewer troops.

"Give me an example."

Check out the Vietnam War Memorial. That is what happens when you surge again, and again, and again, into a bad position.

hillaryin08 wrote:

"Who is your Liberal Democrat messiah now?"

You are. The real Hillary is just a joke - therefore my vote goes towards the next liberal democrat messiah - you.

[bluestardad]

Minority Leader McConnell from Kentucky is up for reelection in 08 The people from Kentucky are not stupid he will be voted out! The 101 is stationed at Fort Campbell Kentucky and has had many soldiers killed in Iraq. This senator supports Bush at his own policital peril!

[bluestardad]

Media
Quit covering these animals in the Middle East and let them butcher themselves off camera. We have spent 50 years of time blood and money trying to civilize them to western standards and it does not work. Do they own your Job or what? Quit Covering them!
America GET out of Iraq and the Middle East quit selling them weapons, learn how to make Bio-Fuel or Clean-Coal Fuel and let the Middle East drink the oil and eat the sand! They cut the Oil off in the middle Seventies and we still have not gotten independent from Middle East Oil! Media quit covering these people in the Middle East let them blow each other up without our kids seeing it on the news! Who in the American Media is forcing our media to cover this violence in the Middle East? America has paid for the entire Middle East for the last Fifty Years in Lives, Blood and Tax Money and this investment has brought us the Chaos we have today. It is time to try something else! The Middle East has been fighting since the Sons of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac were born. Americans come home and let the Middle East be Isolated! The entire Middle East is not worth one more American Life or Dollar!

[hillaryin08]

The new Liberal messiah speaking out against your old one.

"The question is, we face a lot of dangers in the world and, in the gentleman's words, we face a lot of evil men and what in my background equips me to deal with evil and bad men," Clinton said. She paused to gaze while the audience interrupted with about 30 seconds of laughter and applause.

This is what you asked for and this is what you will get.......Thanks America

bellaL wrote:

"Maybe someone can explain to me how not sending an additional 20,000 support troops, supports the troops."

[ Part 1 ]

Perhaps you could tell us how sending 20,000 more troops to Iraq equates to supporting them versus removing them altogether after training the Iraqi's to stand up for themselves and take control of the situation?

But in answer to your question:

America was once regarded by many in Iraq as liberators.

However, the longer we have stayed in Iraq, the more we were regarded not as liberators, but as occupiers, and as a result, violence against Americans began to grow, and grow, and grow into the situation we have today.

Our continued presence in Iraq feeds the insurgents.

With every "humiliation" or "crime" that is committed by an American Soldier against the Iraqi populace, it provides the insurgents with another reason to strike at Americans and also feeds their cause.

In this regard, it unfortunately doesn't matter whether the "average" Iraqi loves America or hates America - they aren't the ones who are killing the American occupiers.