April 02, 2007

Have Reid and Feingold Read The Constitution?

I'm left pretty much speechless today. Jeff Goldstein notes that Harry Reid and Russ Feingold have announced:

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced today that they are introducing legislation that will effectively end the current military mission in Iraq and begin the redeployment of U.S. forces. The bill requires the President to begin safely redeploying U.S. troops from Iraq 120 days from enactment, as required by the emergency supplemental spending bill the Senate passed last week. The bill ends funding for the war, with three narrow exceptions, effective March 31, 2008.

“I am pleased to cosponsor Senator Feingold’s important legislation,” Reid said. “I believe it is consistent with the language included in the supplemental appropriations bill passed by a bipartisan majority of the Senate. If the President vetoes the supplemental appropriations bill and continues to resist changing course in Iraq, I will work to ensure this legislation receives a vote in the Senate in the next work period.”

“I am delighted to be working with the Majority Leader to bring our involvement in the Iraq war to an end,” Feingold said. “Congress has a responsibility to end a war that is opposed by the American people and is undermining our national security. By ending funding for the President’s failed Iraq policy, our bill requires the President to safely redeploy our troops from Iraq.”

The language of the legislation reads:

(a) Transition of Mission - The President shall promptly transition the mission of United States forces in Iraq to the limited purposes set forth in subsection (d).

(b) Commencement of Safe, Phased Redeployment from Iraq - The President shall commence the safe, phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq that are not essential to the purposes set forth in subsection (d). Such redeployment shall begin not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

(c) Prohibition on Use of Funds - No funds appropriated or otherwise made available under any provision of law may be obligated or expended to continue the deployment in Iraq of members of the United States Armed Forces after March 31, 2008.

(d) Exception for Limited Purposes - The prohibition under subsection (c) shall not apply to the obligation or expenditure of funds for the limited purposes as follows:

(1) To conduct targeted operations, limited in duration and scope, against members of al Qaeda and other international terrorist organizations.

(2) To provide security for United States infrastructure and personnel.

(3) To train and equip Iraqi security services.

Dear Senators Feingold and Reid:
Have you lost your ever-lovin' minds? I assure you, that is not a rhetorical question, your sanity is coming into serious question. Has power as indicated by your slim majority in the senate gone to your heads? Have you sirs, read that rather important document called the Constitution of the United States of America? If not, let me call your attention to Article II, Section 2, Clause 1:

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
I ask you sirs, what is it about "The President shall be Commander in Chief..." didn't you understand. You as members of the Senate and members of congres Congress have the right and the power to defund the effort in Iraq, you do not have the power to tell the Commander in Chief how to deploy, whether to deploy, or any other command to the President except as provided in the Constitution.

You need to do some serious thinking sirs, the path you are taking is fraught with actual physical danger for the United States, its allies and our troops in the field. Your mistaken belief that the recent election was a mandate is certainly on par with your other almost psychotic beliefs about the power you think you have. The reality of the matter is entirely different as Cliff May points out in National Review Online:

  • A Bloomberg poll last month found that 61% of Americans believe withholding funding for the war is a bad idea, while only 28% believe it is a good idea.

  • According to a March USA Today/Gallup poll, 61% of Americans oppose “denying the funding needed to send any additional troops to Iraq.”

  • That poll also showed that only 20% of Americans want to withdraw the troops immediately.

  • Public Opinion Strategies (POS) recently reported that a majority of voters (54%) oppose the Democrats imposing a reduction in troops below the level military commanders requested.

  • A POS poll in February found that 59% of voters believe pulling out of Iraq immediately would do more to harm America’s reputation in the world than staying until order is restored.

  • That POS poll also finds 57% of voters support staying in Iraq until the job is finished and “the Iraqi government can maintain control and provide security for its people.”

  • According to a Time magazine poll also taken in March, only 32% want to withdraw the troops within the next year no matter what happens.
  • Get that sirs? I seldom cuss on this blog, but you do not have a damned mandate to pull the US out of Iraq and you are prohibited by the seperation of powers from telling the Commander In Chief how to conduct war making. Please rethink your positions, please, for once in your miserable power tripped minds think of the troops in Iraq and the Iraqi people you will be condeming to a bloodbath.

    Sincerely,
    /s/ George Mann Roper, III

    Posted by GM Roper at April 2, 2007 09:26 PM | TrackBack
    Comments

    It is unfortunate that these idiots do not know their roles. They do not have the authority to tell the President how to conduct a war. These are the same dumb jackasses who criticized President Bush by saying he did not listen to commanders and now that commanders want more troops they want Bush not to listen.

    I am sad that 9/11 happened but if they had to hit a building they should have hit the Capitol.

    Bush will veto anyting like this but I will make a deal, they may pull our troops out but if we are attacked anywhere or if Iraq turns into a blood bath they have to go before a firing squad, no trial, no nothing, just line them up and blast them.

    Funny they want our troops out but they want limited ones available to hunt AQ. If you are going to go, go big.

    Jackasses. I would like to smack both of them upside their heads and knock some sense into them. There was no mandate you idiots. Americans would like the war to be over, given, but they want to WIN.

    Posted by Big Dog at April 2, 2007 09:20 PM

    No matter what comes down the pike, the Dems are firmly convinced that they are going to get us out of Iraq, one way or another...

    I have made no secret of the fact that I never did believe we needed to go TO Iraq in the 1st place, but once we DID go, we needed to do it right and get the damned thing over with...

    I don't care how many Bush Bots think we need to stay in Iraq until the next generation is born and old enough to serve in the Army, Iraq is about the size of Texas for crying out loud, if this thing had been prosecuted correctly it would have been over, decisively over...

    As Big Dog said, "If you're going go, go big", and that's been my contention all along, Bush has been trying to fight this war without offending a lot of folks, well, that's NOT how war works, people get killed and that tends to offend their friends and family, go figure...

    I don't know what the solution is, I don't think anyone does, not with any certainty, but I do know this, the way the conflict in Iraq has been conducted and given the cavalier attitude of the Bush administration as a whole, the RNC is being placed between proverbial rock and hard place, and God help us ALL if the Dems gain the White House and both houses of congress...

    Posted by TexasFred at April 3, 2007 12:41 AM

    They know their role -- they honestly DO NOT CARE. The Democrat point of view seriously is that they are supreme. They are the lawmakers, so they are completely and totally above the law. How is it possible for them to break the law when they get to make the law? Who can possible hold them accountable? Yes, they are asses, but they don't care. Their ends will always justify their means because they think they know better than anyone else.

    Posted by Ogre at April 3, 2007 02:58 AM

    I went to both of their sites last night and said I hope their constituents vote them out, and this is a disgrace. The American people want to see our boys WIN and bring them home in VICTORY.

    Posted by Cao at April 3, 2007 04:41 AM

    The Dems are determined to cut-and-run. They are deliberately defying the Constitution.

    Insanity? I don't think so. I see the latest as another manifestation of Bush Derangement Syndrome, combined with desire for political gain.

    Posted by Always On Watch at April 3, 2007 05:22 AM

    We can all thank God for the veto power of the President and sufficient loyal Republicans to block an override.

    Those idiots don't seem to understand that the Supreme Court - even as it is now constituted - would instantaneously strike down any such law they try to ram through because they are WRONG!

    These people are seditious and dangerous! And I'd like to thank all the Republicans and Independents who sat on their hands in November 2006 who have put us into this frightening situation!

    Posted by Gayle Miller at April 3, 2007 08:58 AM

    This bill bears an uncanny resemblence to what happens when you set loose a kindergarten class in a room full of Legos®.

    Posted by civil truth at April 3, 2007 09:26 AM

    Lighten up, guys... it's a symbolic gesture and Reid and Feingold know it. This is assuming that there really are "sufficient loyal Republicans to block an override." That might not be the case, but who knows? I keep thinking the Republicans are going to bail out on Bush any day now but it hasn't quite happened yet.

    Posted by e. nonee moose at April 3, 2007 03:07 PM





    Oppose Harry Reid



    Christians Against Leftist Heresy

    Categories


    I Stand With Piglet, How About You?


    Reject The UN
    Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting







    Archives

    101st Fighting Keyboardists






    Prev | List | Random | Next
    Join
    Powered by RingSurf!

    Naked Bloggers


    Improper Blogs



    Milblogs I Read

    The Texas Connection
    Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting



    American Conservative
    Blogroll

    The Wide Awakes
    
twalogo.gif



    < TR>
    AgainstTerrorism 1.jpg
    [ Prev || Next || Prev 5 || Next 5]
    [Rand || List || Stats || Join]

    Open Tracback Providers

    No PC Blogroll


    Blogs For Bush
    newmed.jpg




    My Technorati Profile
    Major Media Links



    Other
    Grab A Button
    If you would like to link to GM's Corner, feel free to grab one of the following buttons. (Remember to save the image to your own website).





    Whimsical Creations by GM Roper
    My Store


    Technorati search

    Fight Spam! Click Here!
    YCOP Blogs



    The Alliance
    smallerer_seal_whitebackclear.jpg
    "GM's Corner is a Blogger's
    Blog, and then some!"
    -----Glenn Reynolds


    Coalition Against Illegal Immigration




    Southern Blog Federation


    Kim Komando, America's Digital Goddess
    Credits
    Powered by:
    Movable Type 2.64

    Template by:


    Design by:
    Slobokan

    Hosted by:
    Mu.Nu