Tenn. Republican fights Iraq package, defying party

[quinnox]

WASHINGTON(AP) - Tennessee Rep. John Duncan Jr. isn't a rebel at heart. He votes the conservative, Republican line more than 90 percent of the time and avoids the spotlight.

When it comes to Iraq, however, he is one vote — possibly out of only a few among the 229 House Republicans — that the White House will not be getting this week on an aid package for Iraq.

Duncan has stood apart from President Bush and the GOP on Iraq once before. A year ago, he was one of just six House Republicans to vote against a resolution giving Bush authority to go to war. He said at the time that he was not convinced that war was absolutely necessary.

Duncan said he never agreed with Bush that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States. He pointed to the almost daily attacks on American troops in Iraq and the escalating cost of staying there as key reasons he opposes continued U.S. involvement.

"There's nothing conservative about the policy there," Duncan said in a recent interview. "It's massive foreign aid...I understand that everybody is saying noble sounding cliches now like 'Well we have to stay the course. We have to do the job,'" Duncan said. "But when I hear people saying that, I say in my mind, 'Well, why? I think that Iraqis should solve their own problems.'"

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&ncid=1278&e=6&u=/ap/20031016/ap_on_go_co/congress_iraq_duncan

Good to see a few Republicans aren't of the rubberstamp variety all too common in these days.

[reachout]

1. Well

It's good to see some paleocons standing for their principles. I may not agree with them on most issues, but compared to the neocons they look downright sane and reasonable.

[JI7]

2. i was hoping it was bill frist

but still good to get as many republicans to oppose as we can.

[lovedems]

3. Maybe Gore looks better to the people of Tenn. these days

and he is just smart enough to realize it. Sometimes doing the right thing takes awhile to be noticed. The Dixie Chicks and Michael Moore (and Max Cleland) are examples of that. While their comments/actions were initially criticized, I think in the end they were right and will be remembered as heroic rather than anti-american. At least this is one republican who is willing to do the right thing.