Sacrifice is for GI’s, not congressional Republicans

“Republican Congressman Walter B. Jones (famed for insisting that the Congressional cafeteria re-label French fries as ‘freedom fries’ on its menu), a man who represents North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, home to the Marine’s Camp LeJeune, voted enthusiastically for the Iraq War, but recently changed his mind. Last week, he became one of four congressional sponsors of a resolution calling for a timetable for withdrawal. ‘Do we want to be there 20 years, 30 years?’ he said at a Capitol Hill news conference. ‘That’s why this resolution is so important: We need to take a fresh look at where we are and where we’re going.’

“The Bush administration, which could essentially have accepted the proposal and had endless ‘withdrawal’ time to spare, attacked it strongly because what they can see — as well they should — is the first cracks appearing in Republican Party support. You know something’s happening when Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel says ‘Things aren’t getting better; they’re getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality. It’s like they’re just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we’re losing in Iraq’; or Republican senator from Florida Mel Martinez pronounces himself ‘discouraged’ by the ‘lack of progress’ in Iraq. This is no small thing. This is not a party that is eager to be pulled into a Vietnam-like hell and then swept out of Congress in 2006 or 2008. As University of North Carolina professor (and former U.S. Air Force historian) Richard Kohn puts it: ‘You’ve got Republican grandees in the Senate who probably aren’t willing to put up with this much longer.’”