EDITORIALS : Same Old Course
Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Recently, Republicans in the U. S. Senate effectively filibustered to death a Democratic proposal to start withdrawing troops from Iraq.
The bill required President Bush to start bringing our young men and women home within 120 days, with the final troops out by April 2008.
Some troops would be allowed to remain to train Iraqi troops and engage in counterterrorism activities and protect U. S. assets.
The Republicans vowed to fight the bill, and did so pretty much unanimously. Only four GOP senators did not go along with their colleagues.
GOP stalwarts filibustered the bill all night long, and in the morning, Democrats could not get enough votes to end debate.
So the bill goes away for now.
Some Republicans said they aren’t sure about continuing the war in Iraq but don’t want to set any firm deadlines for the president to start withdrawing troops.
And perhaps that’s a sound position.
But one has to wonder if we can trust this administration to exercise sound judgment in prosecuting this war and determining when it should come to a close.
It’s already in the fifth year. We’ve heard President Bush say, “ Major combat operations in Iraq have ended” back in 2003 and Vice President Cheney declare the Iraqi insurgency “ in the last throes” in 2005. Neither statement has proven even remotely true. Gen. Eric Shenseki said before the war that several hundred thousand might be needed in Iraq. Then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said that was nonsense, that 100, 000 troops were more than enough to get the job done. Now we are up to 150, 000 troops and no end in sight. And we have heard “ stay the course” over and over again. Well, you can stay the course and reach your objectives, stay the course and just keep going around lost, or you can stay the course and go right over a cliff. It all depends on who is doing the driving. Because Republican senators, for whatever reason, decided to protect their president’s war, it seems for now we have no choice but to stay the course with this particular driver. Yes, the GOP in the Senate ensured that Bush and his administration dodged the bullet this time. We wonder when they will see the need to do the same for our men and women serving in Iraq.
— Texarkana Gazette
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online