Lugar And Warner Amendment A Tough Challenge To Bush? Not So Much.

[babylonsister]

http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/jul/13/lugar_admits_amendment_wont_force_bush_to_change_course

Lugar And Warner Amendment A Tough Challenge To Bush? Not So Much.
By Greg Sargent | bio

Today GOP Senators Richard Lugar and John Warner got a bunch of news organizations very excited by submitting an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill that would require the President to submit alternate plans for Iraq. It is being billed by the press as a "tough challenge" to the President and his war.

But in many ways, this amendment – which you can read in our TPM Document Collection – is just a bad joke. It would require Bush to come up with a plan to reduce the troop presence in Iraq – but he wouldn't be required to come up with it until October, which of course is after Petraeus' report is due. This is in keeping with exactly what Bush wants, of course. He's asked Congress not to act until he can parade General Petraeus before the cameras in September to ask for yet more time. So it's not hard to imagine that this amendment could actually end up helping Bush, by letting him say to other antsy Republicans: "The very respectable and serious Warner and Lugar are skeptical of the war, and even they think in all their seriousness that Congress shouldn't act until after Petraeus speaks. So cool out."

Lugar himself gave away the game in his floor speech today, in which he actually characterized his own plan as follows:

I am hopeful that my counsel and that of many others who are weighing in with the President will lead to policy changes. But I have no illusions that what the Senate does during the amendment process to this Defense Authorization bill is now likely to affect the President’s decision about his strategy during the next two months.

It really doesn't get any clearer than that.

There are no specifics in this amendment to dictate what numbers of troops would need to be withdrawn, or by when. And the amendment actually contains this hilariously toothless line: "We recommend that the President and the Administration design plans to be executable beginning not later than December 31, 2007."

We recommend that the President do this? In other words, "Please, Mr. President, can you hurry up and start talking about pulling out? We're getting politically killed out here – pretty please"?

In other words, this amendment is exactly in keeping with the President's argument that Congress shouldn't dictate war policy lest it be "tying the hands of our generals" or "micromanaging the war" or whatever bogus and vacuous phrase you want to use.

Look, don't get me wrong. There are good things about having GOP Senators come out and introduce things like this. It moves the debate. It gives war opponents more leverage. It does increase pressure on Bush to do something. And Warner and Lugar appear to be genuine surge skeptics who want to see some sort of change of course. But let's be clear about this. The President has said he's staying in Iraq until he "wins." This amendment won't do a thing to force him to do otherwise, and in at least one way could conceivably help him buy time until the The Petraeus Show comes to town.

[wiggs]

1. Agree. It's a way for republican to look independent while giving the POTUS

whatever he wants. The Plan in October? Still going to be crafted by the people least likely to get it right...the WH.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.