Maybe now they will stop playing politics with military funding.

President Bush and congressional leaders began negotiating a second war funding bill yesterday, with Democrats offering the first major concession: an agreement to drop their demand for a timeline to bring troops home from Iraq.

Democrats backed off after the House failed, on a vote of 222 to 203, to override the president's veto of a $124 billion measure that would have required U.S. forces to begin withdrawing as early as July. But party leaders made it clear that the next bill will have to include language that influences war policy. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) outlined a second measure that would step up Iraqi accountability, "transition" the U.S. military role and show "a reasonable way to end this war."

"We made our position clear. He made his position clear. Now it is time for us to try to work together," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said after a White House meeting. "But make no mistake: Democrats are committed to ending this war."

Now what someone needs to tell these two idiots is that the issue is not "ending the war" -- because there are lots of terrible ways to do that. No, the only acceptable way to end the war is to do so with VICTORY. As such, artificial calendars for withdrawal are counterproductive. There might be a place for some sort of benchmarks, but not if they provide the enemy with a roadmap for US defeat.

And it is time for all of us to send the Dems that message, loud and clear.

Posted by: Greg at 11:17 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
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