New GOP Bill Challenges Bush Iraq Policy
WASHINGTON — Two prominent Senate Republicans have drafted legislation that would require President Bush by mid-October to come up with a plan to dramatically narrow the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq. The legislation, which represents a sharp challenge to Bush, was put forward Friday by Sens. John Warner and Richard Lugar and it came as the Pentagon acknowledged that a decreasing number of Iraqi army battalions are able to operate independently of U.S. troops.
"Given continuing high levels of violence in Iraq and few manifestations of political compromise among Iraq's factions, the optimal outcome in Iraq of a unified, pluralist, democratic government that is able to police itself, protect its borders, and achieve economic development is not likely to be achieved in the near future," the Warner-Lugar proposal said.
[big, copyright-respecting SNIP:]
The Warner-Lugar proposal is the first major legislative challenge to Bush's Iraq policy endorsed by the two senators _ and lent a more bipartisan imprint to congressional dissatisfaction with the war now in its fifth year. Earlier this year, both Lugar and Warner expressed grave doubts about Bush's decision to send 30,000 extra troops to Iraq. But both have been reluctant to back binding legislation that would force the president's hand.
The legislation the pair is working on would direct Bush to present the new strategy to Congress by Oct. 16 and begin implementing it by Dec. 31. The proposal also would seek to make Bush renew the authorization for war that Congress gave him in 2002. Many members contend that authorization which led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 was limited to approval of deposing dictator Saddam Hussein and searching for weapons of mass destruction.
There's more to the story, so it's worth following the links and looking for more details.
But the bolded part, above, caught my eye as much as anything: they seem prepared to make Bush renew the AUMF, with the seeming likelihood that it would FAIL to be reauthorized.
The partisan in me is exasperated that the GOP might be able to claim that they were the ones who ended the Iraq fiasco, after years of blank-checking Bush at every turn. And I have a hard time trusting Warner (especially) after his grandstaning on torture amounted to little more than kabuki theater.
But...if this helps get our soldiers out of that madhouse sooner, then I'm all for it.
Please weigh in. Is this just more kabuki?
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