Speaker Pelosi Lays Bush Out on Iraq

Speaker Pelosi Lays Bush Out on Iraq –updated below–
cross-posted on Huffington Post

In her first Sunday morning interview, Speaker Nancy Pelosi laid it out plainly
on Iraq.

Although the new Congress should not refuse to provide the funds that the troops already in Iraq and Afghanistan need, it can place an amendment on the supplemental funding bill that states that if the administration wants to increase the number of troops in Iraq above 150,000, it must provide a plan for their purpose and require an up or down vote on exceeding that number. Think Progress (partial transcript of \”Face the Nation\”)

It\’s nice to be home and have all my tech toys so that I could catch the Speaker\’s
performance. Let\’s make sure this YouTube gets around. People need to understand
that having a woman in charge also means strength, especially on military and
foreign affairs. After all, in many households, it\’s the mommy who gets the discipline done, while the daddy is really the softy! But having Pelosi and the Democrats in charge also means not just talking about what\’s to be done, but doing the job competently. Putting in troops for \”political purposes,\” as The Bush-McCain doctrine suggests, isn\’t an answer. That\’s only a legacy recipe for Mr. Bush, but gets us nowhere.

Unless the Iraqis, not the U.S., decide to put together a political solution, adding more U.S. troops just adds to the carnage and the prolonging of military strain currently reaching the breaking point under Bush, with the aid of senators like Graham and McCain and so many others.

Speaker Pelosi has it right. Now we need to back it up with actions, which won\’t be easy, given that the commander in chief is hell bent on escalation. Mr. Bush will announce just such a plan to the nation mid-week. The battle will then begin.

UPDATE (10:05 a.m.): Bob Geiger has more, so check it out. …John\’s post on C&L is here.