The Pressure Builds
Democratic Senator Joe Biden is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president. He is one of the most strident voices against the war in Congress, but voted in favor of funding the war for another four months.
The other Democratic senators who are running for president, Clinton, Obama, and Dodd voted against the war funding bill. Sen. Biden says: “cutting the funding is not going to end the war, because it’s not going to change the president’s mind. Bush may be willing to use them as pawns, but I’m not willing to do that. He insists that we need to protect those we put in the field and take care of those we bring home.”
Senator Clinton explained: “I’ve been in favor of redeploying our troops out of Iraq for more than two years. I’ve been trying to get the administration to change course and engage in what I believe would be more effective actions in Iraq and they haven’t done it. You know, at some point, you don’t want to keep going on with it.”
Senator Barack Obama said: “We must fund our troops, but we owe them something more. We owe them a clear, prudent plan to relieve them of the burden of policing someone else’s civil war.”
Former Senator John Edwards believes: “This president’s not going to negotiate about this. How clear could anything be? He will not negotiate. He will not compromise. He does not think he’s capable of doing anything wrong. He has to be stopped. And the power that the Congress has is its constitutional power to fund. And they need to use that power to force this president down a different course. It’s that simple.”
The Biden-Gelb plan is considered by most experts to be the only way out of Iraq. It calls for taking our troop out of harm’s way, by not having them policing the streets of Baghdad or being involved in the civil war. Our troops would be limited to training Iraqi forces.
Biden anticipates that 17 Republican Senators are going to change their mind as pressure builds on them. He insists that ending the war requires a specific proposal, a plan whereby a political solution is implemented, while drawing down American forces. However, 67 votes in the Senate are required to get that done.
The other Democratic senators who are running for president, Clinton, Obama, and Dodd voted against the war funding bill. Sen. Biden says: “cutting the funding is not going to end the war, because it’s not going to change the president’s mind. Bush may be willing to use them as pawns, but I’m not willing to do that. He insists that we need to protect those we put in the field and take care of those we bring home.”
Senator Clinton explained: “I’ve been in favor of redeploying our troops out of Iraq for more than two years. I’ve been trying to get the administration to change course and engage in what I believe would be more effective actions in Iraq and they haven’t done it. You know, at some point, you don’t want to keep going on with it.”
Senator Barack Obama said: “We must fund our troops, but we owe them something more. We owe them a clear, prudent plan to relieve them of the burden of policing someone else’s civil war.”
Former Senator John Edwards believes: “This president’s not going to negotiate about this. How clear could anything be? He will not negotiate. He will not compromise. He does not think he’s capable of doing anything wrong. He has to be stopped. And the power that the Congress has is its constitutional power to fund. And they need to use that power to force this president down a different course. It’s that simple.”
The Biden-Gelb plan is considered by most experts to be the only way out of Iraq. It calls for taking our troop out of harm’s way, by not having them policing the streets of Baghdad or being involved in the civil war. Our troops would be limited to training Iraqi forces.
Biden anticipates that 17 Republican Senators are going to change their mind as pressure builds on them. He insists that ending the war requires a specific proposal, a plan whereby a political solution is implemented, while drawing down American forces. However, 67 votes in the Senate are required to get that done.
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