The House of Representatives took a huge step toward ending the war in Iraq last Friday by passing the Iraq Accountability Act, a bill that ties troop withdrawal to a White House funding request. The effort to end the war turns this week to the Senate where members will begin debating their version of this troop withdrawal package.
President Bush and Vice President Cheney used name-calling and hysteria to try to stop passage of the Iraq Accountability Act. Bush called it "defeatist" and insisted that setting a timetable for withdrawal would cause another major terrorist action in the U.S. Cheney insisted that supporters of the bill are aiding the "enemy."
Clearly, Bush hoped that division in the anti-Iraq war movement and the Democratic Party would cause the bill to fail. But after its passage Bush continued to lob insults and abusive rhetoric at the bill's supporters.
The passage of the bill, however, is a great victory for the American people, the Democrats, and the anti-Iraq war movement. Speaker Pelosi succeeded in bringing together a broad and diverse collection of moderate and liberal Democrats (and two Republicans) in the House to pass a bill that essentially puts Bush on notice that his stay-the-course/escalation policy is nearing its end.
While some in the peace movement wanted to block the package and hold symbolic votes on measures that would not pass, other organizations saw the value in contesting for a bill that would unite more broad sections of the public and Congress and set a timetable for withdrawal.
MoveOn.org, for instance, in a strategy memo released to its members over the weekend described the passage of the Iraq Accountability Act as a "first step" in a journey to end the war. The November election was a mandate for Congress to act to reverse Bush's stay the course mentality. The passage of this law is such an action.
The memo argues that the goal is to isolate the Republican members of Congress who insist on unquestioning support for Bush's "stay the course" policy by forcing war supporters to choose "between plans to end the war and supporting endless war."
The passage of the bill sends a message to moderate congressional Republicans who are up for reelection in 2008 that they should cut their losses and choose to side with the vast majority of Americans and the voters in their districts and states by supporting a timetable for withdrawal.
In the Senate, the two obstacles to passage of a similar bill are the Senate "filibuster" rules that allow the minority to prevent a bill from being voted on unless 60 members vote to end debate. Republicans could block a vote with as few as 41 members siding with Bush's stay the course mentality.
In a move that shifts the full burden of rejecting a bill that contains troop withdrawal measures to President Bush, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says his party will not filibuster the measure. With 21 Republicans up for reelection in 2008, this opportunistic move is designed to allow Senate Republicans in unsafe seats to find some political cover.
The other obstacle is that more conservative Democrats and Republicans may try to eliminate the troop withdrawal language with amendments.
A larger version of the Pelosi-led congressional coalition will be needed in the Senate. Additionally, greater unity by the anti-Iraq war movement that helped win passage of the bill in the House will also be needed to keep pressure on the Senate in order to win enough votes to push a good bill through.
For its part, the Senate can decide if it wants to stand with the people who by an overwhelming majority want to bring the war to an end or to stand with an increasingly isolated president who has openly rejected the mandate set by the voters in November 2006.
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel (NB) sharply criticized President Bush this weekend and helped illuminate the choice facing moderate Democrats and Republicans about this vote and the need to set a timetable for withdrawal.
On ABC's This Week, Hagel said, "We have clearly a situation where the president has lost the confidence of the American people in his war effort. It is now time, going into the fifth year of that effort, for the Congress to step forward and be part of setting some boundaries and some conditions as to our involvement."
Hagel went on to hint that impeachment of Bush is not out of the question, if he continues to refuse to respond to the will of the vast majority of the people.
The Friends' Committee on National Legislation, asked its members this week to call on their Senators to support keeping a timetable for withdrawal in the Senate version of the funding supplemental.
VoteVets.org, a political action committee formed to elect veterans to Congress who want to bring the war to an end, is urging full support for the Senate counterpart to the Iraq Accountability Act that retains language on a timetable for withdrawal and provides congressional oversight of the conduct of the war.
In his message to supporters, John Isaacs of the Council for a Livable World also urged passage of a Senate version of the troop withdrawal measure, as well as a provision to block a preemptive attack on Iran, and called for turning down Republican amendments to weaken the bill.
The House version of the bill contains additional funds to shore up the failing veterans' health care program. An amendment offered by Sen. Barack Obama will likely be added to the Senate version with similar aims. In an effort to weaken support for the bill, Republican pundits labeled such additional provisions as "pork."
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