> The House GOP refuses to allow actual bills calling
> for withdrawal that could garner significant vote
> support and instead proposes one designed to
> embarass withdrawal supporters-- and Counterpunch
> bashes the Democratic leadership rather than the
> GOP leadership. * * *
-At the risk of belaboring the obvious (or is it too hard for too many to -see the obvious?), if a majority of members of the House had voted for the -GOP's bill, would it not have ben an "actual bill calling for withdrawal"?
And the fact that the some in the antiwar side think that such a massive action as withdrawal shouldn't express any strategy on preventing a bloodbath or any guarantee of continuing human rights is why people like myself essentially seceded from the "antiwar movement."
The moral bankrupty of some on the left is shown by their enthusiasm for a withdrawal resolution that says NOTHING about US responsibility for economic reconstruction of Iraq. Murtha in his statements and resolutions made clear that withdrawal of troops are aimed to facilitate that Iraqi reconstruction: http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/pa12_murtha/pr051117iraq.html "I said over a year ago, and now the military and the Administration agrees, Iraq can not be won "militarily." I said two years ago, the key to progress in Iraq is to Iraqitize, Internationalize and Energize. I believe the same today. But I have concluded that the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq is impeding this progress."
The key phrase in Murtha's resolution missing from the GOP resolution was: "The United States of America shall pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy."
Some antiwar folks opposed any attempt to oust Hussein through diplomacy, so they probably oppose any efforts to help the Iraqi people now, so this part of the resolution may seem irrelevant.
But for the vast majority of Americans who opposed the war when they thought a diplomatic option was still available, and are reluctant to leave without some alternative commitment to the Iraqis after the devastation they have suffered, that part of the Murtha resolution is critical.
Nathan Newman