It's Way Too Late for Nonbinding Resolutions on Iraq

It's Way Too Late for Nonbinding Resolutions on Iraq

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted February 2, 2007.

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Last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who told her "that he would like to see 50,000 U.S. troops leave by the end of the year," as long as "the equipment and training of the (Iraqi) national forces could be speeded up." But McClatchy News Service reported this week that "The U.S. military drive to train and equip Iraq's security forces" has only strengthened "Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia." According to the report, "al-Sadr's militias had heavily infiltrated the Iraqi police and army units that (U.S. forces) trained and armed," and a platoon leader in the Army's 1st Infantry Division in Baghdad said, "People (in America) think it's bad, but that we control the city. That's not the way it is. They control it, and they let us drive around."

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Edit to add:

Sen. Chris Dodd responded to all this by saying: "This is the United States Senate. This is not some city council somewhere … It seems to me sending something down that engages the president, that forces the administration to pay attention is something we ought to be considering."

Russ Feingold added, "A political victory is not more important than ending this war," and he's right. With an attack against Iran seeming ever more probable, this is the time to lay down hard constraints, to cut funding for Bush's escalation, demand he seek congressional authorization to spread his conflict beyond Iraq and move towards ending the occupation. Anything less at this point is too little, too late.


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1. It is the right thing to do.
2. It splinters the Republican Party.
3. It doesn't preclude us from doing something more binding at a later date.
4. Unfortunately, Bush is Commander-in-Chief, and there is little more than can be done while he is around and proudly not listening to reason.