Adding to what General Petraeus said about the resolutions at his conformation hearing, Gates also says that these resolutions embolden our enemy.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that a congressional resolution opposing
President Bush’s troop buildup in Iraq undercuts U.S. commanders and “emboldens the enemy.”
He also said the Pentagon was now studying whether it could accelerate the deployment of the five additional Army brigades that it has announced will be sent to Baghdad between now and May to bolster security in the capital.
At his first Pentagon news conference since taking office Dec. 18, Gates was asked his reaction to the debate in Congress over the effect of such a nonbinding resolution. “It’s pretty clear that a resolution that in effect says that the general going out to take command of the arena shouldn’t have the resources he thinks he needs to be successful certainly emboldens the enemy and our adversaries,” he said
It’s amazing to me that these Senators, who voted to confirm Petraeus would turn around and undermine his efforts in Iraq. You would have to be totally clueless not to see this and yet our Senators appear to be completely without a clue as to what their efforts are going to do our troops.
I was listening to Hugh Hewitt over the last few days and was astonished that the Senators who come on his show don’t understand how upset the base is at the Republicans who support these resolutions that undermine the president’s authority and standing and who sell out the military. Don’t tell me you support the troops if you aren’t willing to allow them to do their job. If you support the troops, why are you trying to undermine their job. The troops want to do their job, they don’t want to be failures. They don’t want the deaths of their colleagues to have been in vain.
And Lugar is right when he says this:
“This vote will force nothing on the president, but it will confirm to our friends and allies that we are divided and in disarray,” Sen. Richard Lugar, the Senate Foreign Relation Committee’s top Republican, said Wednesday.
“It’s the wrong tool for this stage in the Iraq debate. It is unclear to me how passing a nonbinding resolution – that president has said he will ignore – will contribute to any improvement or modification of our Iraq policy,” said Lugar, of Indiana.
Why embolden the enemy over a resolution that has no teeth? It does nothing but p.o. your base and doesn’t force the president to do anything. Unless they cut funding, there’s nothing they can do to influence this war. They had their chance, they could have voted against Petraeus but they didn’t. But their vote proves that they don’t have to courage of the convictions and that this is all for show. They chose the symbolic path because they are not leaders, they just detect which way the wind is blowing and hoist their sails in that direction.
And then there’s this, the words of the brilliant Biden:
“My experience with this administration after six years is – and maybe yours is different – is the only way to get its attention is to make it crystal clear, crystal clear and publicly clear, that you take issue with what they’re proposing,” Biden said.
So, you’ve been very public in your opposition for the last month, what has it gotten you? This:
President Bush, on a collision course with Congress over Iraq, said Friday “I’m the decision-maker” about sending more troops to the war. He challenged skeptical lawmakers not to prematurely condemn his buildup.
“I’ve picked the plan that I think is most likely to succeed,” Bush said in an Oval Office meeting with senior military advisers.
The president had strong words for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who are lining up to support resolutions opposing his decision to send 21,500 troops to Iraq. He challenged them to put up their own ideas.
“I know there is skepticism and pessimism and that some are condemning a plan before it’s even had a chance to work,” the president said. “They have an obligation and a serious responsibility therefore to put up their own plan as to what would work.”
He’s in charge and Congress is left with symbolic gestures:
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