Two House Circus

House Holds First Extended Debate on Iraq War

Now there's a jarring headline. How odd should it strike us that, after over three years of warring in Iraq, the House of Representatives is holding its "first extended debate" on this issue. What it really indicates is how little involved Congress has actually been as far as the Iraq war is concerned despite the fact that it has been the defining issue of American foreign policy during this time.

And, naturally enough, the so-called debate amounted to nothing more than another GOP grandstanding display on troop withdrawal. Much like the bogus GOP-rigged Murtha motion, the feckless Senate "overwhelmingly rejected" any plan for US troop redeployment.

The Senate overwhelmingly rejected a call this afternoon for withdrawal of most American combat troops from Iraq by the end of the year as debates in both houses of Congress mixed high emotion with calculated maneuvering...

How many more of these silly votes is Congress going to conduct before they actually get serious about this serious issue? Uh, scratch that....

This entire effort is a circus act, a dumb-show acted out by a band of politicos with no more interest in overseeing the Iraq problem than they have shown for any other of Bush's failed policies. Besides, you've really got to wonder whether Congress believes that any vote they might make about Iraq is going to matter to the White House. Does the Senate actually believe that they will set a timetable for withdrawal? Do you think Rumsfeld and Cheney are sweating about what Congress might decide? Please. If it hasn't dawned on Congress yet that the White House will do what it wants when it wants, they really haven't been paying attention. Which is exactly why we're in the mess we're in right now.