So the House passed a 97-word, non-binding resolution that gives President Bush a thorough tut-tutting. It’s even “bipartisan,” since 17 Republicans voted for it (and 2 Dems, Jim Marshall of Georgia and Gene Taylor of Mississippi, voted against).
As if to emphasize the fact that it doesn’t really matter, the Pentagon announced today that it’s accelerating the deployment of 1,000 additional troops to Iraq. The division was originally scheduled to go in June, but they’ll go next month instead.
And yesterday, Marine Captain Jennifer Harris of Swampscott, who died in Iraq on Feb. 7, came home.
The blue lights from the police cruisers flashed as the 14-car procession, which included a black hearse, turned slowly onto Elwin Street. Marine Captain Jennifer J. Harris, had been scheduled to return from her third tour of Iraq on Wednesday. Her homecoming was a day later and infinitely sadder than planned. Harris, 28, was killed Feb. 7 along with six other service members after insurgents shot down the helicopter she was piloting in Anbar Province. She was the first servicewoman from Massachusetts to die in combat in the Iraq war.
Her funeral is Monday. Governor Patrick will attend.
This was a worthy first step. If it gets through the Senate (or even a near miss?), it should bolster further, substantive efforts to begin the end of the occupation (isn’t Edwards campaign slogan: “Tomorrows occupation termination begins today”, or am I just dreaming? đŸ™‚
If the Democrats really though ending the war in Iraq was important they’d vote for a binding resolution. Those are out there, as some BMGers have noted. Better than nothing, I agree, but built fundamentally on political cowardice.
might be. or it might be that this work must happen in several steps. i’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, as long as there is consistant forward movement of increasing solidity. but i won’t wait forever.
especially on a President who doesn’t consider bills he signs into law to be binding on him?
…The current Assclown in Chief has 140+K American hostages–er, solders–in Iraq. It is beyond the realm of possibility that the Democrats would shut off funding. The Assclown in Chief would just leave the hostages there, and blame the Democrats as they are being gunned down by Iraqis.
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This isn’t exactly the same situation as Vietnam in 1974-75, as I described here in another thread.
should be flooded with calls and mail. Their vote is inexcusable. Ugh.
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This is how desperate the military is getting. Our teacher mailboxes are right in the front office at school where the public waits for whatever it needs. Weird design in a new building, but there it is. (You come in, there’s a front desk like a physician’s office with three secretaries on the other side, and our boxes on the far wall.) Sometime yesterday afternoon, a recruiter came in and put flyers into each one of the mailboxes (without administration’s permission or sanction) asking for 15 minutes of class time to make a pitch. I probably don’t have to elaborate on the rest. Naturally, they were all properly circular filed. As mandated by NLCB, our school provides time during lunch for recruiters to set up their propaganda table, so it’s not like they don’t have their mandated access.
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Needless to say, we had a very feisty conversation in Peace Literature today. Bastards.
just got called back to active duty – after 20 years inactive. i’m not saying he;s not ready, willing and able, but that if you gotta go after the old folks, you are indeed despirate.
I’ve been out since 1994. Over my cold, dead body will they get me back in a uniform. And you can take that to the bank.
i assumed he was nominally in the reserves or something. can they just call back retired, former military folks like you, who havn’t kept their hat in the ring?
Normally, no. I imagine he was still active in Guard or Reserves, which makes him absolutely fair game. They have, however, in desperation, sent out fishing letters to many prior service looking for anyone willing to sign up for the meat grinder. My IRR (Inactive Ready Reserve) status expired in 1996–that IRR status is what folks seem to forget about once they discharge from active duty. The military does, however, still “own” you during that period.
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In Duckworth’s case, though, I’m betting her husband is still active Guard or Reserve status or IRR. Bummer.
i’m glad to hear it. not just because of my opinion on this war, but because by your comments i’m guessing that you are an awesome teacher. you are needed here!
Thanks. You made my day–except for the 11th-grade girl who made me a Valentine with a candy heart I picked up off my classroom floor. lol. It was hilarious. “Wait, hey Donahue! Didn’t I just picked this up off the floor??” “Yeah, don’t eat it, Bazzie!” They’re awesome. I can’t believe I get paid, to be truthful.
The Congress could easily prevent the president from sending the troops by passing a binding resolution. Instead, they are promising to fund the very surge they claim to oppose.
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My take is that there is only enough agreement to protest, but not enough agreement in the Democratic caucus to actually act on that protest.
However, anything binding that comes out of Congress goes to the president for his or her signature. And of course Bush would veto. So it’s not necessarily as easy as all that.
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As Laurel mentioned on another thread, Murtha is apparently planning to (re)write the Iraq appropriations bill in such a way as to tie the money to the specific policy directives of Congress. That would address the veto problem: no passage, no money. (Though open and outright lawbreaking by the administration wouldn’t surprise me at this point.)
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Maybe this vote was intended to put pressure on the GOP caucus and to find out who was ready to break ranks–so that the leadership knows how to proceed with more substantive legislation. That’s the optimistic take, anyway.