Feingold, Dodd Oppose Watered Down Warner-Levin Iraq Resolution

Read what Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) posted in his diary on Daily Kos. Excerpt:

When the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took up the Biden-Hagel resolution opposing the President’s troop escalation proposal last week, I supported it as a first step toward ending our involvement in this war.  That resolution didn’t go nearly far enough – it was nonbinding and just focused on the escalation – but putting the Senate on record against the "surge" was a small step in the right direction. 

Unfortunately, the new Warne-Levin resolution that many Democrats are pushing is flawed and unacceptable.  It rejects the surge, but it also misunderstands the situation in Iraq and endorses the President’s underlying approach.  It’s basically a back-door authorization of the President’s misguided policies, and passing it would be a big mistake.  Under the guise of constructive criticism, the Warner-Levin resolution signs off on  the President continuing indefinite military operations in Iraq that will not address the fundamental political challenges in Iraq, and that continue to distract us from developing a comprehensive and global approach to the threats that face our nation.

Could there be anything less helpful than a watered down version of a NON-BINDING Senate resolution? So far, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) has joined with Feingold in opposition to this silly compromise. According to a VOA News story:

Senator Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, argues that the resolution does not go far enough, because it does not call for the start of a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq nor does it allow for congress to withhold funds for military mission.

"The legislation that my good friends John Warner and Carl Levin and others have reached a compromise on last evening is with all due respect essentially an endorsement of the status quo," he explained.  "For that reason, I cannot support it."

Here's Feingold's legislation, which proposes some real action to stop this bloody fiasco. I'm sure you can guess how many hollow Dems will step up, straighten their spines and support it.

More on Feingold's thinking. And his video explaining his bill:

According to a U.S. News and World Report article:

The AP reports Sens. Carl Levin and John Warner, the Chairman and ranking Republican, respectively, of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, have "joined forces...agreeing on a nonbinding resolution that would oppose the plan and potentially embarrass the White House." Warner and Levin "had been sponsoring competing measures opposing Bush's strategy of sending 21,500 more US troops to the war zone, with Warner's less harshly worded version attracting more Republican interest." The new resolution "would vow to protect funding for troops while keeping Warner's original language expressing the Senate's opposition to the buildup." The Washington Post also notes in a front page story that the resolution "does not include the Democratic language saying the Bush plan is against the national interest, but it also drops an earlier provision by Warner suggesting Senate support for some additional troops."

The Los Angeles Times, in a story titled "Senate Closer To Rebuke For Troop Increase," reports Majority Leader Harry Reid "said there was 'near unanimity' among Democrats" on backing the new measure, and "acknowledged that an alternative resolution sponsored by Sens. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.)...could not garner the GOP support to reach the 60 votes needed to overcome a promised Republican filibuster." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also last night, indicated the House would move toward passage of a resolution based on the Warner compromise language.

Oh yeah, I imagine BushCo will change course immediately when this toothless excuse for Congressional oversight most likely passes next week. You know how that bunch reacts to "embarrassment." If embarrassment and/or shame worked on Bush et al., we might still have a functioning constitution and Congress, and we'd never have invaded Iraq in the first place. You have to hand it to Pelosi, Reid and the other lemmings. They bite every time on that Repub bait, nothing if not paragons of consistency.