Congressman Barney Frank Says Kill The Funding. Period.

[Mark E. Smith]

Your World with Neil Cavuto, Dec 7, 2006 - Interview w/ Massachusetts
Congressman Barney Frank

CAVUTO: So you want to -- you want to kill the funding, period, for the war in
Iraq, right?

FRANK: Right, because I want to focus on the war in Afghanistan, because that's
the war against terror.

And I believe that the war in Iraq is now doing more harm than good to the
war against terror. It has, I think, undermined the kind of support we had, both
domestically and internationally, for the real war. The general talked about
capturing Usama bin Laden. He is not in Iraq. He is in the Afghan-Pakistan area.
That's where the fight ought to be.

In fact, the war in Iraq is diverting respurces and political support and leadership
from the war in Afghanistan.

CAVUTO: So, what about our soldiers who are already there and need more
resources or need more funding? What are you saying?

FRANK: Well, I think what they -- that we should do them the service of letting
them leave safely and securely.

http://www.house.gov/frank/cavutointerview090706.html

[ima_sinnic]

1. someone who GETS IT--I've been screaming this for a couple yrs now

--cowardly Congress just keeps throwing our tax dollars into that cesspoool, no matter how much lip service they give to "getting out" or "oversight" --bottom line: Just Say No to more $$ for *'s Folly.

[Tom Joad]

11. What about "benchmarks for success"? And obama says wait

6 months before even beginning to withdraw... to take a unspecified period of time...


Don't you want to win??? :sarcasm:

[Freedom_from_Chains]

2. And that is what Congress will have to do to stop this madness

at which point the wingnuts will just go ape shit which could turn into a civil war in this country.

[cassiepriam]

3. Duh. Only option left..... nt

[w4rma]

4. Good. (nt)

[immoderate]

5. Barney knows.

--IMM

[progressoid]

6. So how did Neil spin this on his show.

"Frank is a surrender monkey"? "Cut and run Barney"?

[ms liberty]

7. Barney Frank: The Voice of Reason K&R n/t

[Tom Joad]

8. Kill the funding for the war. And for every Democrat who opposes that

we end our support. support the war, go out the door!

[riderinthestorm]

9. Nancy Pelosi has already said she won't cut funds for the war

Barney Franks can "get" it but until Pelosi "gets" it, and will allow it to come to the floor, funding for the war is going to continue.

[Tom Joad]

12. Can we cut funds to Pelosi? Why does she want this war to continue?

She has long ago lost touch with the people who elected her.

[riderinthestorm]

13. She gets anti-war protesters now at her gatherings!

And she always was pretty vehemently against the war. My take is that she's lost her focus on principles and is embracing her new title as "party leader" which means she's focusing more on politics and consequences.

The way she explains it, is that when the Dems cut the funding for Vietnam, they spent decades being viewed as anti-military, soft on "winning" wars etc. She believes that the American public still thinks this, and if she authorizes the same stategy as Vietnam, Dems will be seen as anti-military again, and will suffer in 2008 and beyond.

:eyes:

I know. It's shitty. I don't buy it. I think people have learned enough about Vietnam that they understand it had to end, and that the Dems did the right thing in hindsight. Furthermore, I believe people understand today that if GW Bu$h won't begin a drawdown in Iraq then other methods, including withholding funding, will have to be an option.

It's wierd that she has said impeachment is off the table, and so is de-funding this mess. It's like she is systematically cutting off all possible avenues for stopping the madness.

[MadHound]

15. Then it is time to get rid of her. Is she up for election in '08?

Make it clear to her that it is her ass on the line for failure to stop this war.

And her rational for ending, ie the Vietnam war is a false one. After all, who was the first post 'Nam president. Oh, yeah, a Democrat:eyes:

[Tom Joad]

16. Every House seat is a two year term. So ideally, we could mobilize

great pressure on her. This can't wait for two years. We have to force her to do the right thing NOW.

[Imagevision]

17. Pelosi's position will be tantamont on her abilities to display sensible leadership...

Why would she be re-nominated if she fails to delivers, it seems she made a pledge of things to get accomplished in the first 100 hours after Jan. 3rd.

[KingFlorez]

21. Get rid of her?

I'm sure the Republicans would like that too.

[w4rma]

28. No kidding. (nt)

[AntiFascist]

18. If she were smart, and less compromising...

she could play to the fiscal conservatives, otherwise it will mean higher taxes in the future which will piss off all the Republicans.

[meuniermr]

25. That's because she is a Globalist!

[Tom Joad]

23. Headline in SF Chronicle " Pelosi's first priority is to halt Iraq war" How?

It doesn't say. Words will not end the killing of Iraqis, nor the deaths and sacrifice of US military people.

"my highest priority, immediately, is to stop the war in Iraq.''
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/10/BAGJGMSTAQ1.DTL

What we need is to hold her accountable to her words. She needs to make that happen. It needs to happen quickly. The people of her district, the people of the US, do not want a simple draw down of troops starting sometime next year (Obama's pathetic stance). They want all the troops out by the end of next year, period.

If she and her Dem friends can do this without funding cuts, fine. But she should be willing to use it if necessary. This is how the war in Vietnam was finally ended.

[terrya]

10. AMEN, Congressman Frank.

Exactly, absolutely 100% correct. One wonders exactly why we are basically letting our friends the Canadians fight our war in Afghanistan for us. Since, um you know, that Bin Laden guy was supposed to be the one we were fighting and trying to find. He sure as fuck isn't in Iraq....

[MadHound]

14. Another person who is making sense. First Kucinich, now Frank

Slowly but surely this idea will take hold. It is, after all, the only true option we have at this point to end the war.

[pat_k]

19. Impeachment is the ONLY path to sanity -- and the ONLY moral option. (nt)

[Arazi]

20. The Dems are clearly going to need some shots of courage

to do the right thing however they get rid of the chimperor and end this bloody occupation.

I believe that Americans taking some real action to hold this gang of war criminals to account will be imperative to restore some degree of international credibility. It's going to be a long road towards gaining any kind of respect but Americans need to start somewhere and throwing this gang out would be seen as a good step, imho.

[Disturbed]

22. Afghan Autopsy

Afghan Autopsy

America began its so-called war on terror with the intention of driving the Taliban from power in Afghanistan. Five years later, the Taliban is back, Osama bin Laden is still alive, and insurgent fighters cite the U.S. presence in the country as their main wellspring of rage. How did it come to this? Truthdig contributor Christian Parenti, just back from Afghanistan, reports.
by Christian Parenti

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1201-23.htm

[Karenina]

27. WHOOOOAAA!!! THAT was an eyefull...

:crazy: Thanks for the link. Pardon me, I need to go lie down. :crazy:

[pat_k]

30. and even bigger shots of REALITY !

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2879455&mesg_id=2882875

[brettdale]

24. Barney Frank for President!

Barney Frank for President!

[novalib]

26. CUT THE FUNDING!! and IMPEACH!!!

The ILLEGAL and IMMORAL WAR waged by the Bush/Cheney/Rice cabal/regime of THUGS and LIARS seems to be the War that refuses to go away!!

WE -- THE PEOPLE -- MUST launch an all out ATTACK against the war itself.

And that means Ridding ourselves -- NOW of those who are in power -- and who are INSANE!!!! And THAT means, as a MINIMUM, IMPEACHMENT, TRIAL, and REMOVAL FROM OFFICE of Bush, Cheney, and Rice!!!

Simultaneously, FUNDS must be CUT OFF -- NOW!!! -- for this illegal and immoral war!!!!!

The people of America spoke loudly and clearly on November 7 -- END THIS WAR and FUCKING END IT NOW!!!!

[pinto]

29. In the interests of accuracy, interview is from Sept. 7.

That said, I think this'll be a good debate once the House reconvenes in January. There seems to be broad support to put a halt to the supplementals - as a purely budgetary sleight of hand - a sense that we need to refocus on bringing bin Laden to justice - as Frank mentions here - and a range of Democratic opinion about withdrawal from Iraq that needs to be resolved.

Ans, the power of the purse is the most obvious tool the House holds in all this.