Pelosi Blasts Bush's "Ten Year War"
Nancy Pelosi has a new formulation to describe the Iraq War: Bush's "Ten Year War." Check out her just-released statement lacerating the White House's new report finding slim progress in Iraq:
“President Bush is committed to 10 more years of war in Iraq at a cost of untold lives lost and hundreds of billions of dollars to American taxpayers, even though today’s White House report admits little progress has been made by the Iraqi government.“The redeployment of our troops cannot be delayed by the failure of the Iraqi government to achieve the political and economic benchmarks established by the Bush Administration. The American people reject the President’s 10-year war in Iraq and want a responsible redeployment to end this war.”
The "ten year war" formulation seems like a potentially effective one -- its basis appears to be General Petraeus' recent claim to a Congressional delegation that we could be in Iraq for a decade to come. Meanwhile, Harry Reid also harshly condemned the report today, blasting the lack of progress and the non-drawdown of troops to pre-surge levels as "unacceptable." Reid's full statement here.
Good for Pelosi! Democrats are taking increasingly bold steps on Iraq, mostly because of the pressure the presidential candidates are exercising on each other! With little space remaining between Obama, Clinton and Edwards, it was obvious that Dems would have little space left to try to comprosime, and Pelosi's speech is proving just that.
September 14, 2007 4:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I really hope so, man...
September 14, 2007 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pre-surge levels. Pre-surge levels. Pre-surge levels.
Clinton hit the nail on the head with her response yesterday and others should be saying the same thing.
September 14, 2007 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
UPDATE: It looks like we may end up with more than pre-surge troop levels.
September 14, 2007 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Bush's War"
I am waiting for someone to point out that Crocker as much as said that our troops are hostages to the Sunni and Shi'ite factions deciding to live together in harmony, not to mention other forces unleashed by Bush's reckless and uninformed gamble.
September 14, 2007 6:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
It seems to me that Democrats can lacerate, criticize, and ridicule Bush all they want, he still wins if at the end of the day they give him the money. I guess I'll wait to see if the leadership follows up the rhetoric with action.
September 14, 2007 9:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice words as usual from Pelosi, but not even a suggestion of any action she or the House Dems might take to put a halt to the war. She's not a leader, she's a capitulator pure and simple. I'll bet the White House trembles in fear when she makes her little pronouncements about what the American people want (and she will do nothing to deliver).
What a load of crap. She is a perfect example of Congressional Democrats: do-nothing, carping, worthless cowards. I iwhs it were otherwise, but it just ain't.
September 14, 2007 10:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why cut Bush so much slack? I'd call the disaster in Iraq "Bush's 15-year war."
September 16, 2007 8:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought the war began in March '03, but Pelosi counts "Bush's Ten Year War" beginning now??? Maybe she doesn't count the last nearly five years as "Bush's War" because Democrats supported it all that time (and still do!).
September 16, 2007 11:48 PM | Reply | Permalink