Senate GOP Blocks U.S. Troop Withdrawal

  So what's new, right? As is usual with the Republicans in the Senate, they shut down the Democratic proposal which would have required Bush to begin bringing our sons and daughters, husbands and wives, home from Iraq within 120 days with a complete pullout by April 30, 2008.

    There were 4 exceptions to the Republican rule who did not see eye to eye with the rest of the GOP. They were Sens. Gordon Smith of Oregon, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who support a deadline on this war.

The 52-47 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate under Senate rules.

ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer via Yahoo News

Other GOP members, while uneasy about the war, said they could not support legislation that would force Bush to adhere to a firm pullout date.

"The amendment tells our enemies when they can take over in Iraq," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., who is up for re-election next year.

The bill "is the wrong approach at the wrong time," he added.

Addressing troops in Afghanistan, the Pentagon's top general said that while it's fine for Americans to debate whether to continue the campaign in Iraq, the global war on terror will compel the nation to fight somewhere for at least another 20 to 30 years.

"We can vote to fight it in one place or another. We can do whatever it it is we want to do to have a dialogue about how to fight this enemy," Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a meeting with soldiers that also was aired live for reporters at the Pentagon. "But the bottom line is that as long as our enemy is sworn to destroy our way of life, we are going to be in a war."

   Since it has been reported in the past that our enemies in Iraq ( al Qaeda ) only make up 10% of the Iraqi population, I do not see them taking over the country anytime soon. They may be causing alot of disruption in Iraq, but taking over? Give me a fucking break!

   Gen. Pace needs to grow a set of balls and maybe try to be his own man instead of one of the White House propaganda mouthpieces. Our enemies are not sworn to destroy our way of life General, they are sworn to destroy our way of life that we keep trying to shove down their own throats in their own countries.

   Our enemies also know that the only reason the United States in in the middle east is because of Israel crying to us all of the time and because of the oil that the United States would like to steal from Iraq, and Iran, and...

Technorati tags: Senate, Republicans, Democrats, Gordon Smith, Olympia Snowe, Iraq, U.S. troop withdrawal, Susan Collins, Chuck Hagel

Bush,Republican's Growing Further Apart

   I am kind of still in the middle of getting settled in after moving last week so I'm only going to give you a bit of the news story from the day and maybe a small thought on the story. I will be back up and running at full kilt next week.

  For our first story, let us look at the dumbass in the White House and his newest veto threat against legislation calling for a troop withdrawal from Iraq. ( source )

   As is so usual with George Bush, he once again isn't going to listen to the American people or the United States Congress when it comes down to doing anything right or moral. At the same time,  it's hard to do either of those things when you know nothing right and you have no lasting morals. This would be the case with Mr. Bush.

   Bush couldn't stop the U.S. involvement in Iraq even if he wanted to because both he and Dick Cheney are to beholden to the big oil company's and the stakes are to high for both men to just turn around and walk out of the Iraqi bullshit that they let the oil people pay them for.

On the situation in Iraq, Christopher Bond, R-Mo. "The strategy we had before was not the right strategy.We should have had a counterinsurgency strategy."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "we've lost more than 600 troops, costing the American taxpayers more than $60 billion. The escalation has done nothing to bring the Iraqi government together. It's done absolutely nothing to lessen the violence in Iraq."

  The Senator was speaking of the cost in life and funds since Bush ordered more troops into Iraq last winter.

Two Democrats, Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and Jack Reed of Rhode Island, back legislation to require a troop withdrawal to begin within 120 days, to be completed by the end of April 2008.

A vote is expected next week, and Reid said nearly all Democrats support the proposal. Republican Gordon Smith of Oregon is a supporter, as well, and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, told reporters she may switch her position and vote for it, too.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would call for a vote on a similar measure by week's end.

The Senate proposal appears to be short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a threatened Republican filibuster. Bush's veto threat applied to any legislation that sets an arbitrary date for withdrawal "without regard to conditions on the ground or the recommendations of commanders."

"Setting a date for withdrawal is equivalent to setting a date for failure," he said in a written statement that employed terms similar to those he used earlier in the year when he vetoed legislation that set a target date for a withdrawal.

In a further sign of eroding GOP support, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., called for troops to come home next year.

"Simply put, our troops have been doing a great job, but the Iraqi government has not," said Dole, the latest Senate Republican facing the voters in 2008 to switch positions on the war. "Our commitment in Iraq is not indefinite, nor should the Iraqi government perceive it to be."         YahooNews

   It's funny how so many Republicans are changing their views on the war in Iraq if they happen to be up for re-election in 2008. If these pigs really wanted to stop this mess, then they, along with many Democrats, would vote this war out of existence by cutting off Bush's war allowance. The game would then be over, would it not?

Technorati tags: Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Dole, Olympia Snowe, Goerge Bush, Iraq, Congress, veto, Republican