Senate May Hold Weekend Session on Iraq Withdrawal

[LadyMod at scam.com]

Hmmmmmmm.....

Reid Says Senate May Hold Weekend Session on Iraq Withdrawal (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aY.CHD.pOkqw&refer=us)
By Nicholas Johnston

Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he may keep the Senate in session over the weekend if an agreement can't be reached sooner to consider a House-backed measure requiring U.S. troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq.

``We're going to move forward on this legislation this week,'' he told reporters. ``We'll either do it the easy way or the hard way.''

The House voted 218-203 last night to link $50 billion in new funding for the war to the demand for troop withdrawals.

The funding is less than a third of what President George W. Bush has requested to finance military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this fiscal year. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today that Congress won't take up any more money for the war until next year if the withdrawal measure fails in the Senate.

Democrats have been forced to abandon previous efforts to make Bush change his war policy through funding legislation because of Republican opposition in the Senate or Bush's veto.

Under the legislation approved last night, troop withdrawals would have to begin within 30 days with the goal of completing the redeployment by Dec. 15, 2008.

Congress was set to leave Washington tomorrow for a two- week Thanksgiving break.

The House measure would require the start of a withdrawal that Bush has already decided to begin.

Combat Troops

Bush on Sept. 13 said he was accepting the recommendations of his top commander in Iraq, Army General David Petraeus, to withdraw about 5,700 combat troops by the end of the year. As many as 30,000 forces may be pulled out by the middle of 2008.

Still, Bush has refused to accept legislation that would let Congress mandate the withdrawal of any of the approximately 160,000 troops in the country now.

``There is no realistic plan to start bringing our troops home in any meaningful way from this administration,'' said Richard Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday to urge them to approve more money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so the Defense Department doesn't have to use maintenance and weapons development money for them.

``The Department of Defense has had to move money from base budget accounts so that we can continue to support essential operations, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,'' said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

February

Without extraordinary measures, the Army would run out of money by mid-February, ``so quick congressional action is needed,'' Morrell said.

After meeting with Rice, Durbin said the military has enough money to support operations ``at least into February and March of next year.''

The House measure approved last night includes a ``sense of the Congress'' resolution that the Iraq war should end as ``quickly as possible'' and that the $50 billion should be used only to bring troops home, not to extend the war.

It also requires U.S. interrogations to follow Army regulations and the United Nations convention against torture, which don't allow such techniques as waterboarding, which simulates drowning.

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[disrupter]

Sounds Like Harry may be growing a pair

Saying no to the unelected Bush's Interminable Iraq Insanity.

Just say 'NO Triple I'.

[Moby]

All of these bastards better stay in DC until this year's agenda is completed. This is nuts. First the Republicans lose control and openly admit that they're not going to work the rest of last year and now this.

[Frankg]

Yea democrats , now that we're winning , lets retreat so we can at least make President George W Bush look bad

Kudos to the Republicans for having enough sense to kill this bill in its tracks
===============================================
Senate Republicans bar Iraq withdrawal plan
Fri Nov 16, 2007 12:52pm EST


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republicans on Friday blocked a $50 billion Iraq war bill that included a troop pullout plan, killing the latest Democratic attempt to end the war while keeping up the fight over its funding.

Despite passionate appeals by Democrats, who noted that 2007 had been the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq so far, Republicans stopped the proposal that had passed the House of Representatives on a largely partisan vote on Wednesday.

The measure needed 60 votes to pass under Senate rules; it only got 53 votes, with 45 senators voting against, all but two of them Republicans.
The bill would have given President George W. Bush about a quarter of the $196 billion he wants for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in fiscal 2008, while setting a goal that all U.S. combat soldiers withdraw from Iraq by December 15, 2008.

"What will it take to end this war? How many lives, how many limbs, how many broken families, how many innocent victims?" the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, asked. Over 850 U.S. soldiers have died this year.

"We know the president will not do this, but it is within our power" to start bringing U.S. troops home, Durbin argued.

Republicans responded that the Pentagon needed the money and this was the wrong time to meddle in Iraq military strategy just when levels of violence there were falling.

Democrats have tried repeatedly to limit the war this year, and Republicans promised to keep blocking their attempts. The narrowly divided Senate, where 60 of 100 votes are often required to advance legislation, has been the graveyard for most efforts.

"It's telling our soldiers, you're losers, when they're winners. So we're going to defeat it, now and forever," Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said.

Congress already has appropriated $604 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since fighting began. The Bush administration wants lawmakers to approve the additional $196 billion as soon as possible, but without strings attached. The White House had warned Bush would veto the Democrats' plan.

But Democrats such as Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd swear there will be no more "blank checks" for the Iraq war. Earlier Friday Democrats blocked a Republican plan to give Bush a "clean" $70 billion for the conflict.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said after Friday's action that the new war funds must be taken care of before the end of 2007.

But Democrats are in no hurry to return to the fray. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said this week se would not bring another Iraq war funding bill to the House floor this year.

Pentagon chief Robert Gates warned on Thursday that without a cash infusion, he would soon make plans to lay off civilian employees, terminate contracts and cut base operations.

But Democrats said Gates told them the money crunch was months away. "He said the Army is going to be just fine until the end of February, the Marines OK until the middle of March," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1424770620071116?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true

[Little Red Dog]

Democrats have tried repeatedly to limit the war this year, and Republicans promised to keep blocking their attempts. The narrowly divided Senate, where 60 of 100 votes are often required to advance legislation, has been the graveyard for most efforts.

You gotta love the "narrowly divided Senate"... The PEOPLE aren't narrowly divided on this issue. The PEOPLE (yeah, remember them - the folks paying your inflated salaries?) overwhelming want OUT OF THIS WAR!!

When is this government going to function "by the people, of the people, and for the people"?

So far, this administration has made sure that we are definitely not "one nation".

[mwillman]

You gotta love the "narrowly divided Senate"... The PEOPLE aren't narrowly divided on this issue. The PEOPLE (yeah, remember them - the folks paying your inflated salaries?) overwhelming want OUT OF THIS WAR!!

When is this government going to function "by the people, of the people, and for the people"?

So far, this administration has made sure that we are definitely not "one nation".

Cheers Little Red Dog

We are a nation run by a small group of greedy cavemen.

[bairdi]

Yea democrats , now that we're winning , lets retreat so we can at least make President George W Bush look bad

Kudos to the Republicans for having enough sense to kill this bill in its tracks
===============================================

A while back, I thought you wrote that the war was won frankie. How do you define a win now? Bush and company broke it and no matter how hard they try to put Iraq back together again, it will never be the same. Meanwhile, Bush's folly is ready to lead us into an economic black hole back here at home.

[Smurf-Herder]

This bullshit every time a spending bill comes up is ridiculous.

Either have a separate bill to end funding, or let the military do it's job. They're doing it a hell of a lot better than last year.

[bairdi]

This bullshit every time a spending bill comes up is ridiculous.

Either have a separate bill to end funding, or let the military do it's job. They're doing it a hell of a lot better than last year.
The military did its job. Bring them home.

[Bill]

Go Harry, put the spurs to those assholes.

We won't be leaving iraq.

We'll draw down, the guerillias will return, as per classic doctrine, then we'll surge again.

We can't survive without the oil. We won't be leaving.

Even after the dems win next year, we won't be leaving.

[Smurf-Herder]

The military did its job. Bring them home.

It isn't finished.

[Islam Rocks!]

We are making enemys faster than we can kill them.

Time to pull out.

[Smurf-Herder]

Go Harry, put the spurs to those assholes.

We won't be leaving iraq.

We'll draw down, the guerillias will return, as per classic doctrine, then we'll surge again.

We can't survive without the oil. We won't be leaving.

Even after the dems win next year, we won't be leaving.

No Bill, we won't.

So they know all they're doing in congress is just fucking things up for the military and making a show for the coming elections. Nothing matters but scoring political points, for most of them.

[Smurf-Herder]

We are making enemys faster than we can kill them.

Time to pull out.

If you've followed the recent stories on what's going on over there, we're making friends and alliances faster than we can find the enemy to kill.

[Little Red Dog]

Smurf, what's wrong with attaching accountability to the funding bill? That's what this is over. The Dems (and some Repubs) want it, and Geo the Lesser refuses to go with that.

Considering how this war has been mismanaged from the beginning, and the millions of dollars we already know have disappeared without trace, isn't accountability a reasonable thing to ask for?

So what's the problem?

And you KNOW that if this were either Clinton asking for the same kind of latitude (i.e. unaccountable, unfettered spending) there would be an enormous hue and cry from the other side.

Additionally, all of the latest requests for funding are supplemental. As in, the guy didn't figure any of this into his budget. What kind of budget management is that from someone who has decided that this war is a necessary part of our nation's day-today activites? And we're supposed tohand him a blank check?

I don't think so.