Time for Congress to Lift the Fog of War

“Cowardice asks the question— is it safe? Expediency asks the question— is it politic? Vanity asks the question—is it popular? But conscience asks the question— is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.” -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

While the battles rage in Iraq, the fog of war that has so impaired the vision of those residing at the White House has also descended upon the newly elected Congress. Congressional leaders who said that ending the war was their top priority have been concocting inside-the-beltway maneuvers designed more to criticize George Bush and play party politics than to end the war. With our soldiers dying every day in an unwinnable war, this is not a moment for cowardice or expediency, but a moment for profiles in courage.

The first opportunity to show true courage will come this month when Congress votes on the $93 billion defense supplemental funding request. Right now, Democratic leaders are meeting behind closed doors to come up with convoluted, watered-down amendments to the bill: forcing the President to sign a waiver if he sends troops to Iraq without proper training, equipment or rest periods; putting the blame on the Iraqi government by cutting funds if they don’t do enough to stem the violence; calling for troops to be removed from combat areas by the end of 2008. All of these would allow the war to drag on and on.

The sole sensible amendment under discussion is one that says the funds can only be used for a full withdrawal under a set timetable, no later than December 2007. If that amendment is quashed, however, Congress should respond to the request for billions more of our tax dollars with a simple, dignified, audacious “NO.”

Democrats who truly want to end the war should tune out the heartless cynics in their party who are content to let the war rage on until 2008 so Bush’s popularity will continue to plummet and the Democrats will win the House, the Senate and the White House. Life and death issues must trump party politics.