Sen. Jack Reed: No "Blank Check" For War In Iraq

WASHINGTON — Sen. Jack Reed says America can't afford the Republican strategy of continuing to write blank checks for the Iraq war.

"At a time when the war in Iraq costs $10 billion each month, Americans are paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, and our economy is struggling, we cannot continue down the path that President Bush and Senator McCain propose: writing blank check after blank check," Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, said Saturday in his party's weekly radio address.

Reed said Democrats have outlined a better plan to carefully redeploy combat troops out of Iraq and give them missions such as counterterrorism and training Iraq's military.

"Make no mistake: This is a plan that seizes on the progress and sacrifices our troops have made in Iraq, and it recognizes the desire of the Iraqi people to take control of their own destiny," he said.

Reed and Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska accompanied presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on a six-day trip to Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan and Kuwait that ended this week.

Obama says he will pursue a 16-month timetable for withdrawing combat troops if he is elected. That idea won conditional support on Monday from Iraqi leaders during talks in Baghdad.

"Our proposal to responsibly redeploy American troops out of Iraq will send a message to the Iraqi government that it must do more," Reed said. "And it will encourage more progress toward Iraqi self-sufficiency."

A West Point graduate and former Army Ranger, Reed emerged as one of his party's leading anti-war voices after he voted against authorizing the war. Reed, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is a potential vice presidential pick for Obama.

"Some of the soldiers and Marines we met in the field are on their third and fourth tours of duty," Reed said. "And they deserve a policy that is worthy of their sacrifice."

Comments

[RTIII]

I wonder what this genius is mouthing off about: The appropriations are ALREADY passed this year - and the Dems gave em EVERYTHING they wanted...
.

[gevan]

So is it time yet to require all Americans to fork over a few hundred dollars a month to be put into war bonds? Naw, not yet. We'll get around to that later.

[TovSquirrel]

TODAY
That's right! No more blank checks!
TOMORROW
Uhhh.... How much did you want?

The Democratic­-Republica­n War Party rolls on!

[danoj]

Wow, they still on the blank check thing. If they don't want the WH to have a blank check why do they keep votting to fill in all those zeros on it?

[UltraClassic]

Now wait a minute. So Reed is a West Point grad and a former army ranger. I thought that kind of back ground did not mean anything.

[wndrwrthg]

WHEN, you cowardly piles of excrement? WHEN! You sure in hell have not stopped before, you spineless, whining democrats.

[brainuser]

Talk's cheap. Wars aren't. How many are funding them just to keep their Senate or House seat safe in the next election(s)?

[brainuser]

What do "the war" and the weather have in common?

[brainuser]

Words, words, words. Talk, talk, talk. Fund, fund, fund. The Department of Defense has a LOT of fat it can trim. Starting with the USAF. How can the Republicans pass any legislation without Democratic support? I can understand how the converse is true. "Support the troops"--that's wearing a bit thin. Time for another jingo jingle.

[ItsNeverOver]

Progressive Future has built a new tool on our website called the Invest in US Calculator which takes your 2007 income before taxes, calculates how many dollars of your tax money went to fund the war, and how many seconds of war that bought you (mine was .04). Then it tells you how many days of health coverage, Head Start education, renewable energy or Veteran's higher education benefits you money would have bought instead. It's pretty cool, so check it out and tell your friends: http://progressivefuture.org/invest-in-us-calculator?id4=BLHP

[bushbehindbars]

Unlike all the other blank checks congress has given cheney & co?

[sullydog]

More hot air from a members of a Congress that has lost all credibility. How many times have we heard this empty "no blank check" rhetoric? Please, give me break. I cannot stand anymore. Just admit that you are going to continue to rubber stamp the Bush agenda and get on with things until January 2009.

[wadenelson1]

Another politician's lips flapping in the breeze.

Hell, they've already bankrupted the country. Nobody but CHINA will even cash our checks anymore.

[Amennyc]

We hear that crap all the time. They are lying. They keep funding the war. If I had a dime (opps, it's 2008)... if I had a dollar for every time I heard this BS I could pay for the war of lies.

[GeorgeKaplan]

Just cut off funding for the war. Talk, talk, talk... everybody talks about the war, but no one in congress will do anything about it. At some point just making threats will not work -- we will need some action.

God bless you Jack, but I will not hold my breath waiting for congress to ACT!

[darthdarcy]

Yeah right after they just flushed another $163 billion down the Iraqi drain into that worthless cesspool..

But not $5 billion for the American people for increased heating subsidies.­.so we'll let our elderly and disabled and poor freeze for the sake of these corrupt Iraqi's who won't even meter their Oil production­..