Recall when Harry Reid said this last November:
"We’re not going to do anything to limit funding or cut off funds," says Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Four months later:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday he will try to cut off funding for the Iraq war if President Bush rejects Congress’ proposal to set a deadline for ending combat.
[…]Mindful that they hold a shaky majority in Congress and that neither chamber has enough votes to override a presidential veto, Democrats are already thinking about the next step after Bush rejects their legislation.
Reid said Monday that if that happens, he will join forces with Sen. Russ Feingold, one of the party’s most liberal members who has long called to end the war by denying funding for it. Reid and others have previously been reluctant to propose cutting funding out of fear it would leave troops in the lurch.
[…]Reid spokesman Jim Manley said if legislation to cut off funding for the war fails, Reid will try again with the hopes of getting new supporters. "It is the next in a series of steps to try to ratchet up the pressure to try to get the administration to change its policies," he said.
My, how the times have changed. How about this blast from the past:
It was Harry Reid who said “As far as setting a timeline, as we learned in the Balkans, that`s not a wise decision, because it only empowers those who don`t want us there. It doesn`t work well to do that.”
Feingold writes in Salon today that we should all remember Somalia when discussing pulling the troops out.
Somalia in 1993 differs in many ways from Iraq in 2007, from the scope of the mission to the reason for that mission in the first place. What hasn’t changed, however, is Congress’ constitutional power to end a military mission, and its ability to use that power without endangering the safety of our brave troops.
All well and good but we should also remember what pulling the troops out of Somalia taught one Osama bin Laden:
In August 1996, Bin Ladin had issued his own self-styled fatwa calling on Muslims to drive American soldiers out of Saudi Arabia.The long, disjointed document condemned the Saudi monarchy for allowing the presence of an army of infidels in a land with the sites most sacred to Islam, and celebrated recent suicide bombings of American military facilities in the Kingdom. It praised the 1983 suicide bombing in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. Marines, the 1992 bombing in Aden, and especially the 1993 firefight in Somalia after which the United States “left the area carrying disappointment, humiliation, defeat and your dead with you.”3 Bin Ladin said in his ABC interview that he and his followers had been preparing in Somalia for another long struggle, like that against the Soviets in Afghanistan, but “the United States rushed out of Somalia in shame and disgrace.”
And here is Osama talking to al-Jazeera in 2002:
BIN LADEN: “We believe that the defeat of America is possible, with the help of God, and is even easier for us, God permitting, than the defeat of the Soviet Union was before. […] We experienced the Americans through our brothers who went into combat against them in Somalia, for example. We found they had no power worthy of mention. There was a huge aura over America — the United States — that terrified people even before they entered combat. Our brothers who were here in Afghanistan tested them, and together with some of the mujahedeen in Somalia, God granted them victory. America exited dragging its tails in failure, defeat, and ruin, caring for nothing. America left faster than anyone expected. It forgot all that tremendous media fanfare about the new world order, that it is the master of that order, and that it does whatever it wants. It forgot all of these propositions, gathered up its army, and withdrew in defeat, thanks be to God.”
This is the example Feingold gives for cutting and running? Have we ever seen people investing so much energy to ensure defeat? To ensure that our enemies will be emboldened? Running from Iraq will only teach our enemy that America is a country that can be defeated, all you have to do is get in cahoots with the various American leftist organizations who will do everything they can to help you defeat this great country.
Add bribes to surrender bills….check!
Ignore the success of our troops in Iraq…..check!
Highlight any bloodshed in Iraq…..check!
Scott Malensek adds:
- Demand-then ignore-National Intelligence Estimates that say, don’t leave Iraq too soon…check!
- Demand-then ignore-classified briefings from all 17 intel agencies on Iraq…check!
- Ignore Daily Intelligence briefings (Pres and VP get them 2-3 times a day, surely the Speaker can too)…check!
- Ignore classified 1:1 meeting with Gen Petraeus and meet with Moveon.org instead…check!
- Demand troops in Iraq focus on training ISF even though they have been for 4yrs…check!
- Demand Special Forces in Iraq focus on AQ in Iraq even though they have been for 4yrs…check!
- Demand troops in Iraq focus on logistics and support for ISF even though they have been for 4yrs…check!
- Demand combat troops be pulled from Iraq to cut casualties even though most casualties come from logistics…check!
- Ignore that no serious CIA investigation was done before or after the war regarding Regime ties to Al Queda…check!
- Ignore the Al Queda’s claims that 4000 fighters have been killed in Iraq, and then claim the war in Iraq is not part of war on terror…check!
- Ignore CENTCOM reports that 7000 Al Queda have been killed in Iraq since 10/04, and then claim the war in Iraq is not part of war on terror…check!
- Ignore that Osama Bin Laden, Zawahiri, and every major Islamic terrorist leader has proclaimed Iraq as the central front in the war on terror, and then claim the war in Iraq is not part of war on terror…check!
- Demand evidence of Iranian involvment in Iraq, and when Iranian intel agents are captured, ignore it…check!
- Demand evidence of Iranian involvement in Iraq, and when Iranian "diplomats" are revealed as aiding insurgents-ignore it…check!
- Demand evidence of Iranian involvement in Iraq, and when shown the Iranian 50cal sniper rifles that have been captured-ignore it…check!
- Demand evidence of Iranian involvement in Iraq, and when shown the special armor-piercing bombs provided to insurgents by Iran-ignore it…check!
- Demand evidence of Iranian involvement in Iraq, and when shown names and faces of 200 Americans killed by Iranians in Iraq-ignore it…check!
Disgusting.
They continue on this defeatist path even though the American people DO NOT want us to leave with our tails between our legs.
The new polling data, conducted March 25-27 for the Republican National Committee by Public Opinion Strategies, also found that 64 percent of voters oppose Democrats’ decision to include billions in unrelated domestic spending in the recent Iraq War supplemental.
The strategist also pointed to the poll’s finding that by a 50 percent to 40 percent margin Democrats stand to take the blame for any potential funding shortfalls should Bush veto the spending bill.
The White House has issued a veto threat over provisions in the bill setting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq as well as the domestic earmarks.
Cliff May supplies even more data:
- A Bloomberg poll last month found that 61% of Americans believe withholding funding for the war is a bad idea, while only 28% believe it is a good idea.
- According to a March USA Today/Gallup poll, 61% of Americans oppose “denying the funding needed to send any additional troops to Iraq.”
- That poll also showed that only 20% of Americans want to withdraw the troops immediately.
- Public Opinion Strategies (POS) recently reported that a majority of voters (54%) oppose the Democrats imposing a reduction in troops below the level military commanders requested.
- A POS poll in February found that 59% of voters believe pulling out of Iraq immediately would do more to harm America’s reputation in the world than staying until order is restored.
- That POS poll also finds 57% of voters support staying in Iraq until the job is finished and “the Iraqi government can maintain control and provide security for its people.”
- According to a Time magazine poll also taken in March, only 32% want to withdraw the troops within the next year no matter what happens.
The American people will know who is at fault if we run like cowards from a war that we are winning, and can win.
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