If Congress REALLY wanted to end the Iraq war they could right now

[still_one]

The dirty little secret is both sides really don't want to

1. The republicans do not want to demonstrate what a mistake it was

2. The Democrats think they can use it for political gain against the republicans as long as we are stuck there

They are both relying on the stupidity of the American public, and they are not too far off

To end the war they simply stop the funding, but they won't do it

[MurryMom]

1. Stop the War!

It's overly simplistic to say that the Democrats in Congress can end the war by simply stopping the funding. Even if the Congress passed a budget with zero funding for the Iraq war after a certain date such as April 1, 2008, the Bush administration would claim power to "impound" the funds needed to continue the war. It is not possible to predict whether the impoundment power of the Executive Branch would ultimately succeed in such a hypothetical. My guess is that BushCo could prolong the process long enough that the issue would not be resolved until after the 2008 presidential election.

[eggman67]

5. What would happen is that

other military spending would be diverted and they'd operate on a shoestring. Meanwhile, any consequences would be blamed on the Dems. They had plans in place to do this the last time it came up.

[still_one]

8. First of all I didn't exclusively say the Democrats, I also referred to the republicans

Congress controls the purse strings.

[Individualist]

2. The dirtier little secret...

They love the military industrial complex.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

3. If They Wanted To Be Reckless Extremists Who Have No Right Being In Positions Of Power, Then Sure.

Thankfully, their heads are filled with more than mashed potatoes.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. It's true.

[sharp_stick]

6. I think it may come to defunding

The Democrats are afraid of a serious backlash if they defund the war and they probably have a right to be afraid of that. Here is the scenario I predict unfolding if the war is defunded.

1) Bush starts to scale back on the already pathetic home time he gives to the troops and also keeps more of them in rotation by increasing the stop-loss programs in effect that increase contracts beyond the time actually signed.
2) Bush starts to reduce the equipment that the troops are given to fight and protect themselves.
3) Bush reduces the amount of funds given to the National Guard for protection of the United States, in essence keeping what's left of them from fighting forest fires and helping out in emergencies. There aren't enough of them around right now he'll just end it all together.
4) Bush starts to bring the troops home because he finally has no choice. I don't know how long he will hold out but it will be a lot longer than any non-megalomanic could.
5) Bush will continue to sleep like a baby because he is that fucking nuts.

This administration and the repuke party, as if we didn't already know, couldn't give a shit less for the troops in the field or their families back home. All this idiotic posturing to "middle America" is just that but it's worked for so long that the pukes have no reason to believe it won't work again. They are like dogs, really really stupid dogs, they will only learn when the shock collar tells them often enough that there is a fence there even if they can't see it.

As long as Bush and his neocon puppet masters see a political advantage in killing people they won't hesitate and they will blame the Democrats and the defunding bill for every last person killed. Right now there is a ban on showing coffins coming home, you can bet that Rove will have a hi-def TV crew for each and every plane load of those bodies.

If the Democrats do defund the war they had better have one hell of a lot more spine than I think they do because it will be a nightmare. They had better be ready for it and they had better not back down once it's started.

[wiggs]

7. There's some truth in what you say but I think it's vastly more complicated

than two reasons. I also don't think the democrats are of a single mind in their reasoning either...some do want to end the war right now.

[still_one]

9. Of course it is more complicated, but it also takes a courage which I don't think will happen

I have no doubt in 5 years we will still be in Iraq, with many more deaths added to the list

The one thing that rings in my mind is that the Iraq war was based on a lie. In fact we invaded a country that DID NOT present an immenient threat to us.

How can that be justified?