What is our Congress FAILING TO DO while it haggles over wording on a troop surge resolution?

Question

Our Congress is WASTING time on a NON BINDING resolution about the war - DON'T THEY HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO?
It will not accomplish ANYTHING other than to pacify the nuts who are against the war.
What could they be BETTER doing with their time?
(even NOTHING is better if you ask me...)

NO WAR IS GOOD - let's just WIN this thing (with the troop surge) and bring our troops HOME!

Answer 1

According to George W. Bush, the objective of the invasion was "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people". Iraq no longer has WMDs (if they ever did), Saddam is dead so he can no longer support terrorism (if he ever did), and the Iraqi people are free. The war is over. What we are doing now is refereeing a civil war. Our brave troops have achieved their objectives.

The "troop surge" will only add more fuel to the fire. Most of the Generals on the ground know this. Even the Iraq Study Group calls for phased withdrawal, not a "surge".

A non-binding resolution will NOT pacify this "nut". Given the "objectives" outlined by Bush on the eve of the war, we have won "this thing". Now we need to "bring our troops HOME!" or send them to fight the "War on Terror" on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, where bin Laden (remember him?) is.

As for wasting time, between 2002 and 2005, 44% of all bills passed in Congress (under Republican control) were to rename things (post offices, bridges, special days, etc.) That amounts to a 44% waste of time. This non-binding resolution will, at least, speak for the majority of the American people and address an issue that we care about.

Answer 2

I note that the resolution passed and that 17 (yes, seventeen) Republicans voted for it. The Democrats are hinting that a more binding resolution may follow.

So, it would appear that the Democrats were, quite successfully testing the water.

The troop surge seems (so far) to have been reasonably succesfull in reducing violence in Baghdad itself but not anywhere else int he country. The problem with a surge of this nature is that it is not maintainable indefinitely and the insurgents will just lie low until it passes or move elsewhere in the country. Either way it won't "win" the war because, at this stage, it cannot be won. Iraq will not in the forseeable future become a stable, pro-Western democracy.

Answer 3

It seems that the political people in congress are trying to derail the exit plan. I am a lifelong Dem but we are the stupidest bunch of clowns in the world when it comes to trying to reach a decision. A lot of people who suffered and died in the effort to come out of Iraq without leaving it in shambles and the effort now is to get out and bring the troops home. The Dems in Congress want to have hearings so they can absolve themselves of blame for the way that they have voted FOR the war effort for the last five years. Could it be that they would be happier if we had to leave and as a loser? Think some would be happy with that so they could turn that into some kind of path to temporary power in the next election. The hearings are just an exercise in shooting themselves in the foot and the radical ends of the Dem Party will say all of the wrong things and we will be right back to the right in the next election. What do you think would have happened if we marched into Iraq toppled the regime and then left? The UN would not come in, they were asked. The same people trying to avoid their own conduct in the war would be saying we shoudl ahve stayed and help these poor people. So if we left we would now being having hearings on why we left. Don't be an idiot! Politicians are the scum of the earth and their product is misinformation and trying to paint images that large groups of people can accept without thinking or considering the record those doing the painting. What if we had a government that worked together? Never happen.

Answer 4

The problem is that continuing the flawed strategy of "dump more troops in there" won't work... it'll make things worse. There was a time when that could have helped, like committing the right number of troops in the beginning... but the administration went against the requests of the generals to look politically tough and now it's too late.

But the battle we're fighting now is one for the insurgents to lose support. Insurgents don't lose support through increased opposition... in fact, they gain support from it.

A troop surge, at best, won't make any changes, and at worst will make the situation worse.

Anyway, don't you worry your pretty little head... the democratic party will put right what you people did wrong in due time. This is just the first step.

Edit: Oh, by the way, the Republican party didn't have any trouble wasting Bill Clinton's time during the Lewinsky scandal. How many days were wasted on that tabloid witch-hunt? Bill Clinton, contrary to Bush in his first 8 months in office, actually had programs to deal with terrorism that were active and successful. Had the Republicans not wasted all of our time with their obsession with Bill's pants, 9/11 might never have happened.

Republicans complaining about Democrats wasting time (which is really just language for "they're not talking about what I want them to talk about") is the pot calling the kettle black.

Answer 5

The majority of military generals who know the Iraq situation say the surge will not work and that the war is unwinnable without a political solution. Bush is ignoring them and throwing more Americans into the middle of a bloody civil war. Congress is doing the will of the majority of the American people. Bush is ignoring the will of the American people and the advice of the military generals. It's time to kick these drunken morons Bush and Cheney out of the driver's seat before we all die.

Answer 6

The 110th Congress has been in session for less than 2 months now.

Give them time.

The 109th Congress made such a mess that it will take years to pull this country up by it's boot straps once again.

The only thing the troop surge will do is to get more of our troops killed faster because we just don't have the armor to protect them.

Why are you advocating sending them off half ****** and to their deaths?

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Answer 7

1) Defend America
2) Support our troops
3) Demonstrate a united front in This war against Radical IslamicTerrorism
4) Get any meaningful legislation passed on serious issues we face. Things like Homeland Security, Immigration and wide open borders. Typical grandstanding bureaucrats.

Answer 8

The Republican Congress managed to do nothing for six years. The resolution is just a first step.

Seadog...apparently you don't remember Gingrich and Dole bringing the entire federal govt. to a halt twice in the nineties because they could not agree on a budget.

Answer 9

TYPICAL OF THE DEM'S THEY WASTE TAX PAYER MONEY TO DO NOTHING A NON BINDING RESOLUTION. BIG DEAL. SO THEY VOTE FOR A NON BINDING RESOLUTION AND THE PRESIDENT STILL DOES WHAT HE WANTS. THE DEM'S ARE MAKING IT EASY TO VOTE REPUBLICAN AGAIN IN THE NEXT ELECTION. ALL THEY DO IS TALK THEY NEVER DO ANYTHING VIABLE. YAP YAP YAP. THEY NEED TO START GETTING IN ON SOME ISSUES OTHER THAN NON BINDING RESOLUTIONS THE WORD
NON-BINDING IS ALSO TYPICAL THAT WAY THEY CAN CHANGE THEIR MINDS LATER BECAUSE IT WAS A NON- BINDING RESOLUTION. SO THEY ARE JUST TALKING TO BE HEARD. I LAUGH AT ALL THE PEOPLE THAT SAID WATCH THE DEM'S ARE IN CONTROL THEY WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING. HAHAHAHAHAHA THEY DO NOTHING. LOOK AT HITLLARY NEW YORK COVER IN 141 INCHES OF SNOW AND WHERE IS HITLLARY? CERTAINLY NOT IN NY. SHE IS A NO SHOW SENATOR AND HAS ALWAYS BEEN A NO SHOW SENATOR.

Answer 10

They have failed to pass the Department of Defense budget for FY 07...it is now Feb 07 and the FY started OCT 1...we have been informed that we are to use the figures from last years budget because our leadership feels that the Congress will not pass our budget at all this year...Murtha says that the troops are not supplied and trained correctly...it is kind of hard to do that without a budget...all of our spending has been really put on hold (unless it is an emergency) until the budget is passed...they need to get off of their fat butts and pass the budget instead of political posturing that does nothing but waste time...Murtha should be taken out and beat about the head and neck and have his rather large ears attached to bricks...hopefully he will pass on soon...