The New York Times reports today that Iraq is looking more and more hopeful:
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer–who’s either planning a switch to the Republican party or has read the handwriting on the wall–says his vote to authorize the use of force against Saddam Hussein was the right one:
(It may indeed be, that Hoyer is trying to establish the new Democratic line on Iraq, now that the situation on the ground has improved so dramatically.) Meanwhile, the House is getting ready to vote on a funding bill to require the withdrawal of troops starting ‘immediately’ (according to reports):
If this report is accurate, I find it interesting that the bill will require that withdrawal begin “immediately.” In March, the House voted by a margin of 218-212 to complete a withdrawal by September 1, 2008. In July, the House voted by 223- 201 to complete a limited redeployment by April, 2008. If the resolution to be debated this week requires withdrawal “immediately,” it won’t allow a straight-up comparison to the previous measures, so we could see how support was building for the pullout (or not). Anyone think this bill will get the 223 votes that the last surrender measure got? Regardless, I suppose we can take consolation in the fact that some elected officials aren’t swayed by headlines in the New York Times, but stick to principles like “surrender,” no matter what the cost. Also check out Wake Up America, which produces some excellent graphs on Iraq polling, which shows how support for the mission is clearly on the rise.
