Bumped: This was a statement made by Senator Dodd before President Bush's speech this evening. The need to end America's involvement in Iraq's civil war did not change between 9:00 and 9:20 PM Eastern time tonight.
Later tonight President Bush will address the nation on the subject of Iraq. It will be the eighth time he's done so since the Iraq war started in 2003.
Senator Dodd issued the following statement on Bush's anticipated announcement that the 30,000+ troops deployed to Iraq during the "surge" will be brought home early next summer (as has always been the plan).
"Moving us in 10 months to where we were 10 months ago is not progress. It is the very definition of status quo.
"Not only is the President not offering us anything new; he's insulting our intelligence.
"Despite the fact that his top General is unable to say that the war is making us safer, all the President offers today is quite literally more of the same. More loss of life, more strain on our military readiness, and more degradation of our national security and our standing in the world. It is time for Congress to say 'no more.'
"What was clear to me before, and what should be abundantly clear to my colleagues after today, is that this President is not going to change course unless we force him to. There is only one way to do that - we must set a clear, hard and fast deadline for redeployment and, in order to enforce it, that deadline must be tied to funding."
Last week BarbinMD asked this on DailyKos:
Troops reductions in April will have nothing to do with improved conditions in Iraq, it will be simply because they won't have the troops to sustain the current levels. But the administration will push this, and apparently the media will play along. Will Congress?
I think Senator Dodd's statement above shows that he, for one, will not play along. Dodd is continuing to push to end the war. He is leading the charge to set a firm, enforceable deadline for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq of April 30, 2008 and he's tying it to funding. He won't vote for compromise legislation that fails to set a date certain for ending the war. And he's challenged his colleagues in the Senate, including Senators Obama and Clinton, to state clearly and directly whether they will vote for legislation that lacks a firm deadline tied to funding. Sadly, they have yet to respond to Dodd's simple request for them to stand up and lead with him.
Please take a moment to write to your Senators using this tool and ask them to state clearly and directly: will they vote for legislation that fails to set a date certain tied to funding to end the Iraq war?
Update:
ThinkProgress has the video of General Petraeus saying that the surge forces were scheduled to come home between April and mid-July, 2008.
Comments
Yes, well, that's what liars do--insult people's intelligence.
It takes people by surprise. They can't imagine why someone would do that when they've given him no cause. Why would a man who's been honored with the highest position in the land violate the people's trust? Good question. Bet he doesn't know the answer to that either. He just reads the words they hand him.
Isn't it nice our President is so predictable. One can go to bed early, secure in the knowledge that nothing will change. That must be very comforting to his base.
But wait. Isn't the President also the one who's supposed to be responsible for everything that goes wrong? If he's not responsible (remember Truman's buck?), then somebody else must be. And that introduces uncertainty to a base that wants nothing more than the certainty of being right.
What's a Republican to do? Look for someone to blame and, of course, FORGIVE.
I'm reminded that the one thing my three grown children remember about their mother with great delight are the times when she was clearly wrong and admitted that what she'd cooked up was not fit to eat. I don't think what made the big impression was that they didn't have to eat their dinner; it was that they had absolute proof positive that it's OK to be wrong--that there's no shame in admitting as much. No matter how often you tell children that making mistakes is normal and it's how we learn, they don't really believe it until they see it with their own eyes.
Which leads me to the suggestion that what the Democrats who supported the enterprise in Iraq have to do is not only admit their mistake, but explain why they made it--because they were mesmerized by the prospect of being the guarantors of world peace and it never occurred to them that they were unleashing death and destruction on millions of people.
I was hoping Senator Clinton would be the one to do, but it doesn't look like she's up to admitting fault.
BTW, I'm not suggesting that the American are just children. It's always been my position that children are just like adults (and entitled to the same rights), except that they're lacking in experience.
Still assert that there's no war in Iraq, civil or uncivil. There may be a cock-fight that's being spurred on by the U.S.
Well he tries to read what they give him, but apparently he can't do that either. I can't believe the most powerful man in the world doesn't get some public speaking training, so he doesn't look like an idiot every time he gets on T.V. Unless he WANTS us to think he's an idiot. ("Art of War" anyone?)