Questions fill the air as Bush speaks on Iraq

[ProSense]

Now that cutting funding is cool, buried at the end of this report is the actual explanation of Kerry's vote on the $87 billion dollars:

Questions fill the air as Bush speaks on Iraq

Updated 1/10/2007 7:38 AM ET
By Tom Vanden Brook and Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — In a pivotal moment of his six years in the White House, President Bush goes before the nation tonight to announce a strategy to salvage the most controversial decision of his presidency: the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

As Bush made last-minute preparations Tuesday for the 9 p.m. ET address, opposition to emerging details about his intention to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq appeared to grow.

Snip...

OPPOSITION BUILDS: Kennedy opposes money for troop boost

"The escalation, whether it is called a 'surge' or any other name, is still an escalation," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. He said Tuesday that he would introduce legislation to bar Bush from using any money to increase troop levels in Iraq without congressional approval.

In a briefing with congressional leaders Monday, Bush said up to 20,000 extra troops would be sent to Baghdad and to Anbar province in the west, a base of the mostly Sunni insurgency, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and others said. The reinforcements could double the number of U.S. forces in the capital.

Snip...

Any action seen as denying funding for the military during a war can bring political peril. A vote by Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, against an $87 billion supplemental funding bill for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan became a central issue in the election. Kerry supported an alternative bill that funded the $87 billion by canceling some of Bush's tax cuts.

link

Kennedy - Escalation: It's Not Up To Him

Yesterday afternoon Senator Kennedy, Massachusett's senior senator, introduced a bill (pdf)] "to block Mr. Bush from sending additional troops to Iraq without the consent of Congress". (CBS News)

JK joined Sen. Kennedy as a co-sponsor of this bill.

Sen. Kennedy has set out a very clear case on why the escalation of troops in Iraq is wrong. His speech at the National Press Club and posts at dailykos.com and Huffington Post were widely discussed.

Check out his speech at the National Press Club:

more...

[acmavm]

1. We are way past the time when Chimpy should have been put

back in his cage and his handlers put in their places (which involves iron bars and a roomie named 'Butch').

They have to be, not need to be, but HAVE to be stopped this time.

[fooj]

2. Full agreement.

No time like the present...

[whistle]

3. IMPEACH both Bush and Cheney now

[blm]

4. The only way to completely stop BushInc is to get a president who believes in OPEN GOVERNMENT

and who will use his powers to open the books on all the WH's extraconstitutional activities of the last 40 plus years.

[GreenTea]

5. BushCo is making far too much fucking money to just stop the war...100 billion more free

dollars, our tax dollars in their pockets, there is NO accountability of where the money goes in Iraq.

BushCo's illegal invasion of a sovereign nation that NEVER threatened us...but had lots and lots of oil for the taking was too much to pass up, not to mention the billions of free tax dollars and unregulated oil for BushCo and the corporations to easily steal...So we lose a few young poor kids, no big deal...this imperialism has gone on everywhere for centuries and sure, the poor fight and die to make the rich, RICHER!

People have their heads stuck up their ass and listen to the fucking media far too much around here and believe there are other reasons...There are NO other reasons but stealing more money.

Why does Bush want to stay in Iraq...He has two more years of stealing to do...get fucking real...This is just another in a series of tactics to keep the wars for profit continuing...Next will be to engage Iran, anyway they can to force more wars for profit!!!

"Win" in Iraq? Win what...define winning...there's nothing to win...except more tax dollars and oil...free money no questions asked. Plus if the Democrats don't support Bush's escalation, then Bush & the republicans can point to the Democrat and say see, "the DEMOCRATS lost the war in Iraq" by not allowing more troops, Lost? Lost what, there was never any "won" or "lost' in question, it's only about profits and the republicans will never admit to that.

Most have forgotten that Bush flat out telling us a few month's ago the war in Iraq will go on past his presidency...and he WILL see to that...Far too much money still to be made....Cheney even went so far as to tell all of us, "we'll be in never ending wars" (for profit)...War means big, big, huge bucks for BushCo and the corporations...Eisenhower warned us about these war profiteers, Kennedy also did as well...

Yet people want to believe there are other reason's so they can pontificate and pretend they know what the fuck they are talking about...It's ALL about M-O-N-E-Y!!!

And as long as we are at war, it also gives the idiot puppet Bush a reason to break ALL laws...Shit, even some democrats believe, well we are at war and the president might have more power than we may be aware of...BULLSHIT...He fucking started this phony war for profit and now we are going to just let Bush hide behind it?

[dragonlady]

6. I heard a theory about how Bush plans to do this

A serviceman interviewed on public radio said he thought the buildup in troops would be accomplished by extending tours of duty for those already there. That would seem to get around the question of where the extra troops would come from, given that the military is stretched so thin now. Talk about sacrifice! They'll have to stay longer when they thought they'd be coming home soon.

Another thing that touched me from that program: A soldier who had been in Iraq said he expected to be sent back at some time since he didn't plan to leave the military. His fiancee is also in service, and the interviewer asked how they would feel if one were deployed and the other stayed back. He said they'd agreed if either of them were ordered to Iraq, the other would request deployment also. He said he'd rather go alone than have her join him there, but she told him that wasn't going to happen. Not sure why, but that brought tears to my eyes.

[Kurovski]

7. "What's that terribly putrid stench?"

Oh, it's George speaking on Iraq.

[ChiciB1]

8. Good For Kennedy & I For One NEVER Bother To WATCH

The Idiot's attempts to do the old "snow-job" over and over again!

I usually wait until it's over then check in RIGHT HERE at DU!