Democrats Have Another Chance To End The War

The House of Representatives is getting ready to vote on funding for the Iraq war, and this time Speaker Pelosi says they're not going to give Bush another "blank check". I hope she's telling us the truth. The Democrats have the numbers to do whatever they want in the House.

But they had the same numbers last time when Bush had asked for $95 billion. They sent him a bill with a timetable for withdrawing the troops, but after he vetoed it they crumbled and gave him everything he wanted. That must not happen this time.

The American people put Democrats back in charge of Congress in the hope they would use their power to stop this senseless war, but so far they have given in to all of Bush's demands. If this continues much longer, Americans may hold Democrats partially to blame in the next election.

This time Bush has asked for $196 billion to run the war for the next year. Pelosi said Democrats are willing to give him about $50 billion, or enough for about 3 months, but it will come with strings attached. One of those strings is that Bush must begin pulling out troops with a goal of ending the war by December 2008.

Personally, I'd like to see it done even faster, but that is a huge improvement over Bush's plans for a never-ending war. The spending bill would also mandate that troops spend as much time at home as they do in the war zone. It would also require interrogators to follow the Army Manual, effectively stopping waterboarding and other torture techniques.

Bush says he would again veto such a bill, but Speaker Pelosi says it's the only bill he'll receive this year. He can either take the $50 billion with the conditions attached, or wait until next year for a new bill, which will probably also have the conditions. Hopefully, the Democrats mean what they are saying this time.

House Democrats have the numbers they need to stop this war. All they need now is the political courage to do it