Back from vacation, Congress to renew debate on Iraq

[unhappycamper]

A volunteer with Veterans for Peace puts up crosses in Santa Monica, Calif., representing U.S. soldiers killed in the Iraq war.


Back from vacation, Congress to renew debate on Iraq
By Renee Schoof | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Monday, September 3, 2007


WASHINGTON — Congress returns from its summer recess this week still split along partisan lines about whether there’s progress in Iraq and what policy on Iraq would best protect U.S. security interests.

Democrats and Republicans don't intend to renew their formal debate about what to do next in Iraq until after Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker report next Monday, but it's clear where both sides will line up.

Republicans, led by President Bush, say there have been military gains, citing as evidence such things as numbers of enemy forces killed and captured and more tips from Iraqis. They say this shows that Bush's troop "surge" is working and deserves support.

Most Democrats want to withdraw U.S. combat troops. Some of them acknowledge some military gains, but note that violence remains high. They stress that American intelligence experts say the prospects for Iraqi politicians finding a political solution to the violence are dim. That assessment was seconded by a Government Accountability Office draft report leaked Thursday that found that Iraq’s leaders have failed to meet 15 of their own 18 benchmarks for progress toward peace and stability. The report also says that questions remain about whether sectarian violence has been reduced.

Statistics that McClatchy Newspapers collected in Baghdad don’t show any drop in violence. Civilian deaths in the capital were about the same in July as in December, before the American troop increase began. U.S. officials in Baghdad declined to provide data to back up their claims of lower violence.

~snip~

The costs of the war so far are more than 3,700 American troops killed and more than 27,660 wounded, and millions of Iraqis killed, wounded or forced to flee. Congress has appropriated $477 billion for the war since it began. Bush reportedly is considering asking for $30 billion to $50 billion more for the troop buildup, on top of the $150 billion he’s seeking for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for next year.


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uhc comment: The Santa Monica location that the Veterans For Peace use has been out of space for a long time. Each of those red crosses signifies 10 American deaths.

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. And of this moment of record early on Sept. 4, 2007 there are 3,741 dead troops

Thanks for that photo, uhc.

Hopefully, congress grew a spine during recess, and will no longer fund this illegal war.

Maybe they'll even take a stand against the BushCO/PNAC machine, and not allow further war by stopping pre-emptive strike on Iran.