Text 27256, 171 rader
Skriven 2007-02-16 20:22:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Gutless cowards
=======================
Bush should just ignore these clowns...  He doesn't answer to Congress.  
He answers to the people.

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http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070216/D8NB3CMO2.html

House OKs Measure Opposing Troop Surge
 
 
Feb 16, 5:54 PM (ET)

By DAVID ESPO
 
(AP) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., right, accompanied by House 
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of...
 

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Democratic-controlled House issued a symbolic 
rejection of President Bush's decision to deploy more troops to Iraq on 
Friday, opening an epic confrontation between Congress and commander in 
chief over an unpopular war that has taken the lives of more than 3,100 
U.S. troops.

The vote on the nonbinding measure was 246-182, and within minutes, 
Democrats said their next move would be to challenge Bush's request for 
$93 billion in new funds for the Pentagon.

"The stakes in Iraq are too high to recycle proposals that have little 
prospect for success," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, leader of Democrats 
who gained power last fall in elections framed by public opposition to 
the war.

"The passage of this legislation will signal a change in direction in 
Iraq that will end the fighting and bring our troops home," she vowed 
after the vote, in which 17 Republicans joined 229 Democrats in a 
wartime rebuke to the president.

 
(AP) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. smiles to the applause of tour
groups inside the Capitol in...
Full Image 
 
 
Citing recent comments by Democrats, Bush's Republican allies said 
repeatedly the measure would lead to attempts to cut off funds for the 
troops. Outnumbered, they turned to GOP Rep. Sam Johnson of Texas to 
close their case - and the former Vietnam prisoner of war stepped to the
microphone as lawmakers in both parties rose to applaud his heroism.

"Now it's time to stand up for my friends who did not make it home, and 
for those who fought and died in Iraq already," he said. "We must not 
cut funding for our troops. We must stick by them," he added, snapping 
off a salute as he completed his remarks to yet another ovation.

Moving quickly, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., set a test 
vote for Saturday on an identical measure, and several presidential 
contenders in both parties rearranged their weekend campaign schedules 
to be present.

Republican senators said in advance they would deny Democrats the 60 
votes needed to advance the resolution, adding they would insist on 
equal treatment for a GOP-drafted alternative that opposes any reduction
in funds for the troops.

Even so there were signs of Republican restlessness on the issue. Only 
two members of the GOP rank and file sided with Democrats on an earlier 
procedural vote; the total figured to be higher this time.

 
The House vote completed a turnabout from the fall of 2002, when the 
House bowed, 296-133, to Bush's request to authorize military action 
against Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein.

U.S.-led troops made quick work of his regime but soon found themselves 
targeted in a country where long-suppressed sectarian rivalries flared 
and outside forces rushed to intervene. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have
died in the ensuing war, along with more than 3,100 U.S. troops.

Bush made no comment on the developments in the House, and his spokesman
said the president was too busy to watch the proceedings on television.

After a secure videoconference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-
Maliki, Bush said the Iraqis reported providing troops to fight 
alongside Americans, making sure that no ethnic or religious factions 
are ignored in the security operations, providing $10 billion toward 
reconstruction and working on an oil revenue-sharing law.

"That's good news for the Iraqi people. And it should give people here 
in the United States confidence that his government knows its 
responsibilities and is following through on those responsibilities," 
Bush said.

 
More than 390 of 434 lawmakers spoke during nearly 45 hours of dignified
debate that spilled across four days - an unusual amount of time devoted
to what Republicans and Democrats alike said was the most significant 
issue confronting the country.

House Republican Leader John Boehner appeared to choke back tears at one
point as he read from a letter that a husband of a former congressional 
aide wrote home before being killed in Fallujah.

Pelosi led the House in a moment of silence, out of respect, she said, 
for those who fought, and "particularly those who have lost their lives 
in the war, and their families."

Supporters of the nonbinding resolution included 229 Democrats and 17 
Republicans - fewer GOP defections than Democrats had hoped to get and 
the White House and its allies had feared. Two Democrats joined 180 
Republicans in opposition.

The developments unfolded as a new poll showed more than half those 
surveyed view the war as a hopeless cause.

A sizable majority, 63 percent, opposes the decision to dispatch more 
troops, although support for Bush's plan has risen in the past few weeks
from 26 percent to 35 percent, according to the AP-Ipsos poll.

The House measure disapproves of Bush's decision to increase troop 
strength, and pledges that Congress will "support and protect" the 
troops.

Bush has already said passage of the measure will not deter him from 
proceeding with the deployment of another 21,500 troops, designed 
primarily to quell sectarian violence in heavily populated Baghdad.

Already, troops of the Army's 82nd Airborne have arrived in Iraq. 
Another brigade is in Kuwait, undergoing final training before 
proceeding to Iraq. Three more brigades are ticketed for the Baghdad 
area, one each in March, April and May.

In addition, the Pentagon is sending two Marine battalions to Anbar 
Province in the western part of the country, the heart of the Sunni 
insurgency.

Bush and his allies in Congress calculated days ago that the House 
measure would pass, and increasingly have focused their energy on the 
next steps in the Democrats' attempt to end U.S. participation in the 
war.

"The President believes that the Congress should provide the full 
funding and flexibility our Armed Forces need to succeed in their 
mission to protect our country," said White House press secretary Tony 
Snow.

But Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., who chairs the committee that will review 
Bush's request, said, "the president wants a supplemental (spending 
bill). If he wants it, he's going to have to accept certain things."

Democrats have made clear in recent days they will use Bush's spending 
request to impose certain standards of readiness, training and rest for 
the troops.

"That stops the surge (in troops) for all intents and purposes, because 
... they cannot sustain the deployment," Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said 
recently.

Republicans pointed to Murtha's remarks repeatedly during the day as 
evidence that despite their claims to the contrary, Democrats intend to 
cut off funds for the troops.

"This is all part of their plan to eliminate funding for our troops that
are in harm's way. And we stand here as Republicans ... committed to 
making sure our troops in harm's way have all the funds and equipment 
they need to win this war in Iraq," said Boehner of Ohio, the Republican
leader.

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