A few weeks ago, I wrote about the most important vote on the Iraq War that Americans hadn't heard about (thanks to the media, the GOP and certain factions of the Democratic Party). It was a vote in the House on a simple non-binding resolution that would ask the President to submit at least some details of an eventual exit strategy from Iraq. The resolution, supported by a gutsy group of Democrats and a few Republicans, tried to honor the War Powers Act of 1973 (specifically, section 4b). Unfortunately, it was voted down by both Republicans and Democrats.
Now, though, with a new poll showing almost 60 percent of Americans favor a withdrawal, more Democrats are springing into action. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), for instance, courageously announced that he will be introducing a Senate resolution that is almost the exact same resolution that was voted down in the House. Meanwhile, House Democrats - ALL of them - will have another shot at actually standing up for something now that Republican Rep. Walter Jones (NC) has said he will be re-introducing a similar resolution.
Clearly, the GOP may try to make it seem as if any new initiatives on Iraq mean Democrats are just responsing to polls. But, whatever - I'll take it. Hell, I'll take anything if it means more Democrats will stand up and give voice to the majority of Americans who want to see our Iraq policy seriously altered.
And make no mistake, America's Iraq policy is not going to change with the current idiots running the show. President Bush, in fact, seems to think everything's going just fine. He regularly bills Iraq as part of the War on Terror, yet says that in that same War on Terror, it "seems like there's maybe no action taking place, that maybe the enemy is not active."
Of course it seems that way to him - he continues to refuse to go to even one funeral of those soldiers who have died fighting for a cause that America was lied to about. But to those of us who actually pay attention to the thousands of casualties that continue to mount, it's time for a change. Let's hope every Democratic Senator signs onto Feingold's legislation, every House Democrat signs onto Jones' bill, and Bush is finally forced to own up to his disastrous policies.