Bending the Third Rail
Because We Should, We Can, We Do
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Iraq War Resolution
So, the Senate is going to be voting on a resolution against the escalation.

I'm really torn on this one.

On the one hand, anything, ANYTHING that is a slap in the face of the administration is a good thing. Anything that galvanizes further public opinion against continuing the war is a good thing. And anything that begins a political process of getting us the hell out of Iraq is a good thing.

On the other hand .... well, I'll let Kevin Drum say it:
I'm opposed to the escalation too, but these moves by Dodd and Clinton actually strike me as the worst of all possible worlds. Legislation to get us out of Iraq would be a fine idea. Legislation to reinstitute the draft and send 200,000 more troops to Iraq would be a horrible idea, but would at least have some internal consistency. But legislation that essentially locks in place the status quo? That really makes no sense at all. If there's anything we can be absolutely sure of, it's the fact that the status quo isn't working.
Is this resolution not an endorsement of the previous "stay the course" logic?

I realize that Congressional legislation is not always clean (like making sausage), and that stronger language would have been more difficult to achieve agreement. But really, doesn't legislation like this reinforce the GOP's talking point that "they don't have any alternative"?

It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. Does this resolution continue to put pressure on Bush or does it actually bolster his case?

Update: Here's a piece of legislation being proposed in the House by my very own Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey. Now that's more like it.
Written at 2:22 PM by Greyhair.
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