Well, of course President Bush is against the Senate's attempt to micromanage the war. And will the Senate also revoke the 2001 Use of Force Resolution, as well? They would have to because the type of war that we are currently fighting in Iraq, is the type of force authorized by that resolution. But all of that is moot because this won't make it past cloture:
The White House said Friday it would oppose any attempt by Senate Democrats to revoke the 2002 congressional resolution authorizing the war in Iraq and to restrict U.S. troops to a limited mission as they prepared to withdraw.That's not just a Republican argument it's what Murtha has in mind, it's the point of the resolution, isn't it? He wants to slow down the process so that there are no new troops going to Iraq. He's admitted this.
[...]
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev., said of the White House, "They can spin all they want, but the fact is that
President Bush is ignoring a bipartisan majority of Congress, his own military commanders and the American public in escalating the war.
"The American people have demanded a change of course in Iraq and Democrats are committed to holding President Bush accountable," Manley said.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record), R-Ky., the minority leader, dismissed the Democrats' effort as a "Goldilocks solution, one that is hot enough for the radical left wing but cool enough for the party leaders who claim that they are for the troops." He said he would press for a Senate vote on a resolution committing to funding the troops.
The wording of the Democrats' measure remains unsettled. One version would restrict American troops in Iraq to fighting the al-Qaida terrorist network, training Iraqi army and police forces, maintaining Iraq's territorial integrity and otherwise proceeding with the withdrawal of combat forces.
Reid intends to present the proposal to fellow Democrats next week, and he is expected to try to add the measure to anti-terrorism legislation. Officials who described the strategy spoke only on condition of anonymity, noting that rank-and-file senators had not yet been briefed on the details.
[...]
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (has said she expects the next challenge to Bush's war policies to come in the form of legislation requiring the
Pentagon to adhere to strict training and readiness standards for troops ticketed for the war zone.
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the leading advocate of that approach, has said it would effectively deny Bush the ability to proceed with the troop buildup that has been partially implemented since he announced it in January.
Some Senate Democrats have been privately critical of that approach, saying it would have virtually no chance of passing and could easily backfire politically in the face of Republican arguments that it would deny reinforcements to troops already in the war zone.
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