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Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann :: Townhall.com Columnist
The Left Redefines 'Withdrawal'
by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
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When the House of Representatives voted, on July 12, 2007 — by a margin of 223-201 — against the Iraq war, the news media characterized the bill as requiring a “withdrawal” from that war-torn country. Media reports said that the legislation required the start of withdrawal in four months and mandated that it be completed by April of 2008.

Nonsense. The bill did nothing of the sort. Rather, it specified that its goal was to “require the secretary of defense to commence the reduction of the number of United States armed forces in Iraq to a limited presence by April 1, 2008” (emphasis added). The legislation went on to specify what it meant by a “limited presence.” It specified that the “president shall, at a minimum, address whether it is necessary for the armed forces to carry out the following missions:

“(A) Protecting United States diplomatic facilities and United States citizens, including members of the armed forces who are engaged in carrying out other missions.

“(B) Serving in roles consistent with customary diplomatic positions.

“(C) Engaging in actions to disrupt and eliminate al Qaeda and its affiliated organizations in Iraq.

“(D) Training and equipping members of the Iraqi Security Forces.”

Indeed, rather than require a pullout, the legislation requires the president to keep troops in Iraq if he finds that any of the above purposes are “necessary.”

The legislation thus comes relatively close to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) goals in Iraq, as she indicated to The New York Times in March of this year. In that interview, she specified that our troops should fight al Qaeda; train, equip and support the Iraqi forces; and stop infiltration over the border from Iran. According to the Times, Pentagon experts who evaluated how to perform a similar menu of missions estimated that it would require upwards of 75,000 troops. Continued...
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About The Author
Dick Morris, a former political adviser to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and President Bill Clinton, is the author of Condi vs. Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race. To get all of Dick Morris’s and Eileen McGann’s columns for free by email, go to www.dickmorris.com
 
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Reply # 1
Date: Jul 21, 2007 - 12:15 PM EST
Senate Benchmarks
Our do nothing Senate of Resolutions to nowhere is getting old. What have the senate done in the past months and years that is on the positive for the country and it's people. I have been listening to what we are going to do to fix social security since the late 60's. what we can do to improve health care and what to do about ILLEGAL immigration and now all we hear is how the great senate majority is going to fix the war effort in Iraq. Still nothing seems to be getting done but alot of lip service with no results.
The solution is to send the senate to the new embassy in Iraq to discuss the problems facing the American people, possibly being up close and personal will give them the motivation to accomplish more than lip service and retoric.
The bottom line is we have to kill the enemy or the enemy will kill us. The idea of leaving and all will be good is a pipe dream, When the war on terror will end the body count of the enemy will be in the area of 35% of there population, history is here and will repeat itself as it is.
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Reply # 2
Date: Jul 20, 2007 - 4:40 PM EST
Leave it in or Pull it out
Ok...let me get this straight...and I would like to thank Dick for clarifying that Congress wants to pull out a little bit but not all the way, as most assume. We all know that if you pull out too soon it can cause more trouble than if you had never entered in the first place. Of course, the dynamics change on the pullout if you entered without permission. In that regard,you have three choices; 1)Pull out immediately and flee 2)pull out slowly but apologetically 3) stay in until the job is done no matter how long it takes them to get where they need to be. For me, I choose number three because its better for all involved. In the end I think we have all learned a valuable lesson here; If you enter without permission based on the wrong signal being sent and you dont pull out immediately, then be prepared to deal with the outcome of your bad choice in the most respectful way possible. As I said earler, me personally, I believe there was consent to enter, both parties enjoyed the initial victory and I think that the living together phase has gone on too long and its time to get married and support the offspring.
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