Iraqi Withdrawal Symptoms

Finally! Both the House and the Senate have passed a bill mandating withdrawal from Iraq. I think I'm not alone in saying, it's about damned time.

It looks headed for a veto, though, because for some odd reason Mr. Bush can both deny the troops funding and complain that they're not being supported at the same time with the necessary funds for so important an undertaking. And since these bills narrowly squeaked through their respective votes, it's not likely that veto will be overturned.

Now, there's a lot of debate about exactly how the Democratic Party should handle this situation. One school of thought is that they've made their stand, put a statement out there that they're with the majority of the public who see his war as wrong, and that they should relent and give the president a “clean” appropriations bill – one without any provisions such as a deadline for withdrawal – and then wash their hands of the matter. It will be the president's, then, and the Republican's issue. And the Democratic Party can use that in the 2008 elections to hammer home the message of Republican corruption and incompetence if not arrogance. Win that election and then the war could actually be ended.

Which would be fine if this particular political football didn't involve the lives of countless of soldiers who are going to lose their lives between now and the time the occupation actually comes to an end. This is not the time to govern from a defensive crouch. The problems our country are facing are many and grave and they're going to require actual solutions. The American people spoke quite clearly in the last elections and in every poll since – we're fed up with this never-ending war without goals. It's time to press that advantage and use that capitol to achieve as much as possible. Now. There's no telling how and why the world will turn in a month or a year or a day. But what we do know is that unless we bring our troops home we're going to lose more of our precious treasure, squander more of our former reputation, and spend many more lives in a worthless cause. We have a chance to end it and we should take it.

And, in doing so, you demonstrate that the Democratic Party, unlike the Republican one, stands for something more than simply winning elections. By making the tough choices now, by fighting the battles now and every other time they need fighting, and taking that moral highground the Democrats will create an even better position for themselves in the next election cycle and beyond. A better one than being seen as weak and indecisive yet again, anyway.