Democrats Push a Tactic to Shift Iraq War Policy

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

Now that President Bush and Gen. David H. Petraeus have charted their course for the Iraq war, Democrats in the Senate say one of their proposals aimed at shifting the president’s strategy is finally close to winning enough Republican support for a real chance at being approved. It would require that troops spend as much time at home as on their most recent tours overseas before being redeployed.

The proposal, by Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, has strong support from top Democrats, who say that the practical effect would be to add time between deployments and force General Petraeus to withdraw troops on a substantially swifter timeline than the one he laid out before Congress this week, and that it would protect troops from serving protracted and debilitating deployments.

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware and a candidate for president, called the proposal the “easiest way” for his Republican colleagues to change the war strategy on the same day that the Bush administration released a mixed report on the Iraqi government’s progress toward various goals.

The Pentagon sought on Friday to challenge the Democrats’ approach, with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates saying at a Pentagon news conference that it would only create further hardships for the military, including the prospect of even lengthier tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/washington/15cong.html?hp

[rodeodance]

1. Gates is really pulling out the crapola on this one:

Mr. Gates called the proposal “well-intentioned,” but said it might require extending tours of units already in Iraq, calling up additional National Guard and Reserve troops, and making other adjustments that “would further stress the force and reduce its combat effectiveness.”

“The complexity of managing the flow of units, individuals and capabilities to two active combat theaters is enormous and does not lend itself to simplistic, or to simple, legislative prescriptions,” Mr. Gates said at a briefing with Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “The cumulative effect of these kinds of things, we think, would, frankly, increase the risk to our men and women in uniform over there.”

[whoneedstickets]

2. This is a winning strategy, if you can starve the beast of $, starve it of soldiers...

We all know that rotation demands are what is leading to the 'draw down'. Strict rules about time spent in theater will starve the military of soldiers.

[sandnsea]

3. Aaah, Webb

*sigh* I don't have a problem with extending the time between deployments because the troops deserve it.

But I hate this kind of gamesmanship when we're dealing with people's lives. It's bullshit. If you want to end the war, stand up for a policy to end it. This is the guy who is supposed to have the guts. He's just letting his hatred of Vietnam protesters get in the way of his good sense. Maybe this is what Obama meant when he said he was tired of fighting Vietnam again.