Two more GOP senators break from Bush on Iraq

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from Raw Story: http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Two_more_GOP_senators_break_from_0707.html


Saturday July 7, 2007

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Two more Republican senators have gone public with their dissatisfaction with President Bush's Iraq war strategy, but the White House still doesn't view the internecine feuding during wartime as a "hemorrhaging of support," since hardly any GOP lawmakers have aligned with Democrats to call for an immediate troop withdrawal.

"Wearied by the lack of progress in Iraq and by the steady stream of military funerals back home, a growing number of Republican lawmakers who had stood loyally with President Bush are insisting his strategy has failed and are calling on him to bring the war to an end," Noam N. Levey writes for Saturday's LA Times. "In the last two weeks, three GOP senators — including one of the party's leading voices on foreign affairs and one of Bush's strongest allies — have urged the president to change course now so U.S. troops can start to withdraw."

On Friday, Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee told the paper, "It should be clear to the president that there needs to be a new strategy. Our policy in Iraq is drifting;" and "Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, who helped lead the charge earlier this year against Democratic efforts to oppose Bush's troop buildup, said: 'We don't seem to be making a lot of progress.'"

Gregg added that it was important that there be "a clear blueprint for how we were going to draw down."

"None of these GOP lawmakers has embraced Democratic legislation to compel a troop withdrawal," the paper notes. "But nearly five years after congressional Republicans overwhelmingly answered Bush's call for military action against Iraq's Saddam Hussein, some are doing what was once unthinkable: challenging a wartime president from their own party."

The article continues, "The tide of Republican dissent began to grow two weeks ago when Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, former chairman of the foreign relations committee, delivered an earnest plea for change from the floor of the Senate. Sen. George V. Voinovich of Ohio expressed similar doubts in a letter he sent to the president the next day, and Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, the former chairman of the armed services committee, openly praised Lugar for speaking out."

The Times notes that "another House Republican, conservative Rep. John T. Doolittle from Roseville, Calif., labeled the Iraq war 'a quagmire' and called for a reduced U.S. military presence, according to the Sacramento Bee."

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Two_more_GOP_senators_break_from_0707.html

[EVDebs]

1. Now we need them to join Dems on review of the AUMFs

At least a review of the Iraq Authorization for use of Military Force AUMF of Oct 2002, giving Bush the powers he claims to have.

The NSA domestic spying powers would come under the Sept 2001 AUMF for 'war on terror'. This too could be reviewed since the War Powers Resolution of '73 requires 'clear' 'situations' and 'circumstances'-- which a further review of the 9-11 Commission Report would show are anything but clear. The writings of David Ray Griffin, whose new book Debunking 9-11 Debunking, show that we still do not have the true story of 9-11. We already know that the Iraq situation was contrived and built on lies; let's start from there and work backward.

[Dr.Phool]

2. Don't worry chimpy.

Liebermoron will save you.

[AlCzervik]

3. Doolittle is a goddamn asswipe! District 4 please for the love of humanity

vote that fucker out.

[aquart]

4. Now break from him on healthcare and executive privilege.

[CitizenLeft]

5. rats deserting the sinking ship

As far as I can tell without looking it up, Voinivich is the only Republican senator not up for re-election in '08. He's firmly and safely planted in his seat at least until '10. The rest are flipping for their political lives, although I thought I heard rumors that Warner may be retiring.