Yesterday and today have seen some dramatic political wrangling.
Democratic Congressman John Murtha, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, yesterday said that he had reversed his position on maintaining troops in Iraq, and said that we should change our plans now to bring troops home. In fact, here is the exact resolution that he submitted to Congress:
Whereas Congress and the American People have not been shown clear, measurable progress toward establishment of stable and improving security in Iraq or of a stable and improving economy in Iraq, both of which are essential to "promote the emergence of a democratic government";
Whereas additional stabilization in Iraq by U, S. military forces cannot be achieved without the deployment of hundreds of thousands of additional U S. troops, which in turn cannot be achieved without a military draft;
Whereas more than $277 billion has been appropriated by the United States Congress to prosecute U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan;
Whereas, as of the drafting of this resolution, 2,079 U.S. troops have been killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom;
Whereas U.S. forces have become the target of the insurgency,
Whereas, according to recent polls, over 80% of the Iraqi people want U.S. forces out of Iraq;
Whereas polls also indicate that 45% of the Iraqi people feel that the attacks on U.S. forces are justified;
Whereas, due to the foregoing, Congress finds it evident that continuing U.S. military action in Iraq is not in the best interests of the United States of America, the people of Iraq, or the Persian Gulf Region, which were cited in Public Law 107-243 as justification for undertaking such action;
Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That:
Section 1. The deployment of United States forces in Iraq, by direction of Congress, is hereby terminated and the forces involved are to be redeployed at the earliest practicable date.
Section 2. A quick-reaction U.S. force and an over-the-horizon presence of U.S Marines shall be deployed in the region.
Section 3 The United States of America shall pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy.
This threw Congress into disarray, since Murtha is a highly respected congressman whose support for keeping trooops in Iraq was crucial for keeping the consensus. So the GOP today decided that they would take all of the shades of grey out of the discussion, and introduce a very simple resolution:
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that
the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately.
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces
in Iraq be terminated immediately.
Now keep in mind: the REPUBLICANS introduced this resolution, specifically because it backs the Democrats into the corner: they have to vote either to keep troops in Iraq, or withdraw them. Either way, they lose with such an overly-simple resolution.
It's being hotly debated, right now, on the floor of the House. Even though it isn't his resolution (though the Republicans keep implying or directly stating that it is) Murtha is the lone voice speaking out for the incompetence and duplicity of the Bush administration in prosecuting this war. Murtha is holding his own against an army of GOP congressmen -- who have clouded the issues, lied about progress in Iraq, and flat-out insulted the Democrats on the floor. You can read a description here.
When you read the post-mortem tomorrow, keep in mind that this this a Republican stunt that has little or nothing to do with a real debate on the war in Iraq. Because the GOP doesn't want one. It's shameful.
8:07:43 PM 
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