Senate Democrat Fecklessness Continues

The Democrats continue their efforts to undermine the war effort in Iraq by micromanaging every aspect. They think that this is the path to victory? Can any of these luminaries point to a single military victory that was possible by the politicians in the rear dictating strategies or limiting manpower?

Senate officials said Thursday that the proposal now being drafted would be a new turn in their attempts to force the White House to halt its troop buildup in Baghdad. They described it as more substantive than the nonbinding resolution of opposition to the increase that stalled in the Senate last Saturday.

The officials would speak only if not identified because the central proposal was still being drafted and needs to be presented to all Senate Democrats when they return from a weeklong recess next Tuesday.

They said the proposal was intended to essentially overturn the 2002 resolution granting Mr. Bush the authority to remove Saddam Hussein from power, and limit the military to combating Al Qaeda in Iraq, keeping Iraq from becoming a haven for terrorists and training Iraqi forces. The proposal’s goal, officials said, would be to allow combat forces not engaged in those duties to be removed from Iraq next year.

The chief authors are Senators Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Carl Levin of Michigan, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. The plan is to try to attach the proposal to an antiterrorism bill the Senate expects to begin considering Tuesday.

Biden is running for President so this has to be seen in the context of trying to outfox his competition. Problem is, all the Democrats are pushing even further to the left to gain a domestic political advantage, leaving the troops and national security out to dry.

The Democrats in Congress are proposing a losing strategy - both in terms of what it will do to US interests around the world, and to the long term national security.

Not a single Senator who supports this nonsense can defend it on grounds of national security. Not a single one. How does limiting the President's capabilities as commander in chief improve national security? How does limiting the military's capabilities to send reinforcements as it deems necessary to complete its mission improve chances for victory? It does not.

Yet, Democrat after leftist Democrat will claim that bringing the troops home is their top priority and so is restoring America's image abroad. Sorry, neither of those actually improves national security. Cutting and running undermines our image abroad and gives a cheap victory to the likes of al Qaeda who have stated all along that they will prevail simply by outlasting the short attention span theater that is the US polity. Allies will be more hesitant to engage in long range military operations, even when their national security is at stake because they will fear having the rug pulled out from under them.

Bringing the troops home before the job is done will only pave the way to even greater human rights atrocities.

It is always curious how the left will claim that the US should do more to stop the carnage in Darfur or other hellholes around the world, and yet ignore the hellish nightmare that Saddam Hussein inflicted on the region and was put to an end with the US invasion. Are not the hundreds of thousands killed by Saddam during his murderous reign the same as the hundreds of thousands killed in Darfur or Rwanda or Congo? The human rights abuses were there - well documented and available for all the world to note. Iraq used chemical weapons in its ethnic cleansing and genocidal Anfal campaign, yet that doesn't require military intervention?

Yes, there is still carnage going on in Iraq - some of it by the Ba'athist remnants, some by al Qaeda, and some by Shi'a insurgents and with the support of Iran and Syria. Leaving now will only create the fertile grounds for yet another killing field that will make Cambodia seem like a walk in the park. Denying al Qaeda the ability to maintain safe harbor in Iraq should be a priority, and yet withdrawing US troops would undermine that capability.

That is the future that the Democrats have in store should their efforts come to fruition.

UPDATE:
Others posting on the Democrats and their careless and relentless disregard for the Constitution and undermining the war effort for purely partisan political gain: Macranger, Decision 08, Sister Toldjah, Rick Moran, and Wizbang.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, The Virtuous Republic, The Random Yak, 123beta, Adam's Blog, basil's blog, Shadowscope, Cao's Blog, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, Phastidio.net, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The Uncooperative Blogger ®, stikNstein... has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.