Democrats Opposing The War And The Troops

Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families (11/16): Congressional Democrats did it again. After going 0-for-40 on legislation to force America's "retreat and defeat" in Iraq, the House voted 218-to-203 last night to provide only a quarter of the funding for the war in Iraq that President Bush requested. Worse, the bill came with strings demanding hard deadlines for troop withdrawals. This vote came in spite of the fact that progress is being made - progress even the New York Times has acknowledged - and some troops are coming home.

The Senate took up the bill this morning, but it failed to get enough votes to overcome a Republican filibuster. The anti-war liberals in Congress are drawing a line in the sand to appease their radical leftwing base at MoveOn.org. Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid has essentially told the president, "Take it or leave it." According to the Associated Press, "Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said this week that if Congress cannot pass legislation that ties war money to troop withdrawals, they would not send Bush a bill this year."

The results could be staggering. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that if full funding isn't provided soon, "he is faced with the undesirable task of preparing to cease operations at Army bases by mid-February, and lay off about 100,000 Defense Department employees and an equal number of civilian contractors." A White House spokesman responded to Congress' failure to fund our troops by saying, "We'd rather see the Department of Defense, the military planners and our troops focusing on military maneuvers, rather than accounting maneuvers as they carry out their mission in the field."

Congress' behavior is grossly irresponsible - especially as we are making progress. Serious nations and responsible legislators do not cut off their troops on the battlefield. They do whatever is necessary to win. Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut recently accused liberal anti-war Democrats of being "emotionally invested in a narrative of retreat and defeat, even as facts on the ground show that we are advancing and winning." Sadly, it seems Senator Lieberman is right. Unfortunately, disdain for our troops is not isolated to liberals in Congress.

There is a pathetic report today out of the leftwing enclave of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Evidently, a local Boy Scout troop was collecting donations of toiletries, magazines, candy and other items to make care packages for our soldiers serving overseas. Scout Patrick O'Connor of Troop 45 got the idea after a relative serving in Iraq was injured by an IED, and he wanted to do something "to make a lot of troops happy" for the holidays.The Scouts got verbal permission to place donation boxes at polling stations during the city's recent municipal elections for an "Election Day collections drive." Unbelievably, someone complained that the donation boxes amounted to a "political statement," and city bureaucrats removed them. So even providing candy and magazines to our soldiers is too much for some liberals. No doubt the individual who complained was equally offended that the effort was being conducted by Boy Scouts, who happen to believe in (gasp!) God and Country. Fortunately, not all Cambridge citizens are anti-American scrooges. Vice Mayor Timothy Toomey said in a written statement: "Boy Scouts Troop 45's efforts to support our troops are a benefit for the entire community, and the council will be working with them to ensure that their goals are fully realized."

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