The democratic leadership has stripped the withdrawal timetables from the war-funding bill. The move was ordered after Democrats failed to garner veto-proof margins for either their time-table or incremental war spending bills. Republican congressmen have been trying to hold off Democratic efforts to end the war until a progress report on the surge is given in September. Many say that they will reevaluate their options then, and abandon the war if progress remains slim... Its interesting, by any measure the surge is failing, and why wouldn’t it. According to the militaries own literature on counter insurgency, a 1 to 40 ratio of soldiers to citizens is needed to properly quell an insurgent force. The Boston Globe describes what’s needed;
"The first chapter of [the] manual calls for a "force ratio" of 25 counterinsurgents (here meaning US, allied, and Iraqi soldiers and police) per 1,000 residents. In
You might wonder why the General leading the surge doesn’t follow these recommendations. Especially considering he’s the one who wrote them. That’s right, General Petraeus was the author of the US Military’s anti-insurgency doctrine and he isn’t following his own rules.
So in order for the war to go as Congressional Republicans would like, Petraeus has to tame the insurgency with an insufficient and battle-weary force by the end of summer. It is an impossible task, and the recent trend of violence should drive that point home. Unfortunately, Republicans need to see another season of carnage before they are willing to join with Democrats and end the war. They've won this battle and their prize is a bloody, IED-filled, death-squad ridden month. Way to go…
2 comments:
Olbermann and everyone else is freaking out but a couple of things first:
1) this is the Senate bill, not the House bill. Pelosi already said she doesnt want to vote for a bill without timelines.
2) in the senate this bill is subject to change
3) since Democrats control the senate they can effectively keep the bill open for change as long as they'd like, until it's submitted to Bush
4) if the House can't agree, the bill means jack squat
5) There's a significant chance that they don't really intend for this bill to pass anyway and it's all kabuki theater.
Bottom line: WAIT until the bill is finalized before its treated like poison.
I don't give it much hope. The senate seems less committed to ending this war than the house does, and given that the house has called it quits on this effort I can't imagine it will continue in the senate. I guess we'll see....
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