August 22, 2007

IRAQ: No Political Progress On Iraq

Recent reports of Dem vacillations on the war have fueled netroots worries that momentum is not going their way heading into Gen. David Petraeus 9/11 report to Congress. Daily Kos' Kagro X links to a US News report that Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) "will no longer vote for binding troop withdrawal timelines" and asks: "Are we going into Magical September -- which was supposed to break Republican backs on the occupation -- losing Democrats?"

AMERICAblog's John Aravosis comments on Washington Post reports that Reps. Baird, Jerry McNerney (D-CA), and Tim Mahoney (D-FL) all were now at least 'more flexible' in their support for the war following a recent visit to Iraq: "As I've written before, General Petraeus is known for his sweet-as-candy ability to lie his way out of any crisis ... Still, it's rather sickening that these Democrats have chosen to go the Joe Lieberman route - letting our troops continue to die for a lie because they don't have the backbone to call this disaster for what it is. ... How utterly embarrassing."

McNerney later clarified his views on his blog: "I am firmly in favor of withdrawing troops on a timeline that includes both a definite start date and a definite end date ("date certain") and uses clearly-defined benchmarks. I am not in favor of an "open-ended" timeline for withdrawal, as some members of Congress have proposed recently." Calitics' David Dayen thanked him: "Good for Jerry McNerney for calling B.S. on his OWN visit to Iraq and understanding that the dog-and-pony Congressional delegations only provide a brief glimpse into conditions on the ground."

Posted by Conn Carroll at August 22, 2007 12:35 PM