Congress Seeking Bush's Iraq Strategy

[kskiska]

Lawmakers Express Nation's Growing Unease

Returning members of Congress yesterday reported growing concern among their constituents about the turmoil and casualties in Iraq, signaling more pressure from Capitol Hill for President Bush to spell out his strategy for gaining control of the postwar situation.

Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), chairman of the House International Relations Committee, reflecting a sense of anxiety heard by members of both parties, said he wants to "combat a sense of drift" about U.S. policy in Iraq and bring in more international assistance.

Most of the half-dozen senators interviewed yesterday said they sensed mounting unease over the series of bombings in Iraq and the continuing loss of American lives. But few reported any demands for an American pullback.

"Mainly, people want reassurance that the administration knows what it's doing," said Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah), "that things are going better than CNN would have us believe."

(snip)

Some Democrats described the anxiety level at home in starker terms. "There's a real deep concern now," said Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (S.C.). "People are wondering how much this will cost in money and lives and how are we gonna get out of there? I had one teacher say, 'We've got a tar baby on our hands.' "

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16990-2003Sep2.html

[kainah]

1. aren't we all?

Let's hope they really did hear their constituents' concerns.

[Sagan]

2. OH MY F'N GOD!!

"that things are going better than CNN would have us believe."

WTF is THAT supposed to mean? Did lightning hit this man as he said this?

NO-ONE has been more somnolent and more willing to accept Pentagon press statements as "fact" than CNN. They have WILLINGLY fudged casualty figures.

[pruner]

3. just look at how CNN fucked up the economy…

with all their "March to War" graphics and whatnot.

:eyes:

[Wwagsthedog]

4. DUH

People at the legislative parasite's country clubs must have said something bad about the idiot's "exit strategy". Never mind that most of the congress creeps voted for the war in the first place.

[mediaman007]

5. No Way...We can't leave without finding those pesky WMD's

Congress should be on the hook for supporting this rush to war. Now they want to slip quietly to the other side of the issue.

In the end Clinton and World liberals will take the blame for this mess.

[Bob3]

6. If they find it I hope they tell the White House where it is.

N/T

[underpants]

11. The "plan" is in the same place as the WMD's

which apparently is.............no where.

[Plaid Adder]

7. Yeah, I think Bush is seeking an Iraq strategy too.

I really honest to God don't think they have one. Which is really pretty @#$! frightening.

He should have listened to Princess Leia: "When you came in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out?"

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[catmandu57]

9. Well, originally they had one remember

We would march into Iraq with a limited number of troops. The Iraqis would be so happy and gratefull they would throw roses at us and offer up nubile young virgins.
The oil companies would set up a puppett government, steal the oil, and nobody would give a flying rat's ass if we were in Iraq as long as we had the spoils of war all to ourselves.
Now, they're scratching their heads, scratching their asses and wondering wtf do we do now?

[underpants]

12. Yep that was the plan and stupid me invested in Iraqi rose futures

The post-Iraq office wasn't even set up in the Pentagon until December. I believe the word "cakewalk" was used.

[PATRICK]

8. Was just reflecting on the "tar baby"

analogy. Getting deeper into it I remember distinctly that Cheney and the usual suspects had actually built the tar baby. Uncle Remus couldn't have made up a story like that and sold it to the children. And they still rage and throw themselves(well, our soldiers that is) against the hapless mess.

The American people who pay and die of course did not make this concoction and are slowly learning the hard way as per the story. Actually the would be victimizers never learn, just suffer as reason and spirit triumphs.

[salin]

10. Story quotes rep and dem comments on constituent concerns

(remember they just came back from a break). From the linked article:

Very interesting read (if one is not registered for WPost, this is worth doing so for - as it gives not only a pulse of where folks are as reported by their reps/sens, it also gives the view of some of those reps/sens.

Little quiz - here are a few (but not with who says it - have to read the article) - guess whether the speaker is a dem or a repub:

1. There's a real deep concern now," said ____________ "People are wondering how much this will cost in money and lives and how are we gonna get out of there? I had one teacher say, 'We've got a tar baby on our hands.' "

2. ________________ (2 people - same party) said they found more people worried about administration policy regarding the USA Patriot Act, and its implications for civil liberties, than the situation in Iraq.

3. ________ said his constituents "have gone from a sense of exhilaration over the victory to a sense of deep concern. They need to be told what it's going to take and what to expect."

4. ___________ said, "There's been an amazing turnaround" in Las Vegas. "There was tremendous support here" for military action. "Now a lot of people are questioning: Are we stuck there? Is it going to be another Vietnam? Once we passed the threshold, where more people were killed after we declared victory than before, people began to keep a body count."

5. ________ said, "there's also a recognition that we cannot just pull up stakes and leave." The mood, he said, "is something between resignation and determination."

=================== (read the article for more)

This article is really interesting to read - as it reflects what these folks are bringing back to DC in terms of attitudes after a month with constituents. It does not sound like the public is quite so snowed by TeamBush.


Answers to above:

1. Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (S.C.) - democrat
2. Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-Idaho)
3. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)
4. Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.)
5. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.)

Note that last one ... a sense of resignation and determination? That is not what I hear in Indiana, Evan. Note how he sounds almost more supportive of current policy in his read on constituent messages than do some of the GOP senators. Not to say he is "DINO" - his overall record - though seeming so at times - is better than even most moderate GOPs. BUT... He is the CHAIR of the DLC - this is their message (not Indiana's to Bayh). This is their strategy. I hope that the DLC continues to lose its reputation as a dominant source for the direction of campaign strategies, as seems to be the case in listening to more and more dems on the Hill starting to speak out against Bush, and straying further and further from the DLC message.

[underpants]

13. "...people want reassurance that the administration knows what it's doing"

said Sen. Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah)

Well you better bring a lunch because that alone will take aaaaaaaaaaaaall day.

[tabasco]

14. "OK - here's the strategery"

1. Convince the ignorant American public Saddam is a great danger.
2. Launch a brutal takeover in order to secure the oilfields.
3. Steal as much as we can as fast as we can to enrich our corporate friends and ourselves.
4. Turn over the dirty work of nation-building to the UN while we continue to pillage the oil.

NEXT QUESTION?

[zekeson]

15. Strategy? Oh, our plan

well, hell, Dick, why didn't you say so, * sez to Cheney. The plan, as I recall you said, is to just blow into Iraq, creat a bunch of havoc so that we can pump the begeeeezuz out of that there oil, and creat so much commotion that we have to spend a ton of money on the war and cleanup, right Dick? Then, with all those relection rebates, er, tax rebates, there won't be dime one left for social programs. Its gonna be a wonderful world, Dick.