Strong Strategy

John Murtha is advocating a bill that will forbid the Pentagon from sending additional troops "unless they have adequate training and unless they have adequate equipment." Since the Democrats argue that thousands of troops lack body armor, the bill seemingly has merit; in reality, since soldiers are always at risk, there is never enough protection from this perspective. Such a bill would curtail Bush's dangerous Surge. Extending the strategy to include bringing home troops who have been in a war zone for a single tour of duty would go a long way towards ending America's presence in the country.

This strategy has strong rhetorical value since it shifts the focus from ending the war to protecting the troops. All they need is a Republican Strategist to give the bill a catchy name (an equivalent to the Death Tax). Maybe the Soldier Defense Act, or Protect Our Soldiers Bill. Who knows. Accompany the bill with pictures of 18 year old boys coming back in body bags and the American public will broadly support of the bill.

The Democrats could never block funding for "the troops" and hence not stop the war by attacking the funding directly. Bush has done a good job of turning his $93 Billion request for funds into a litmus test for "supporting the troops".

If the Democrats can tie all Iraq war funding to "adequate" training and protection of the troops and limits on tours of duty, they might have an appealing political package that will finally get us out of Iraq. The question remains whether congress will be able to exert enough oversight to restrain the executive in this way.

Posted by Peter