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Restless Congress: Legislation Reveals Uncertainty over Iraq

A third Memorial Day has passed with troops in Iraq, causing some members of Congress to grow more restless about the war. With more than 1,600 American soldiers killed and more than $190 billion spent, some lawmakers are itching for an exit strategy.

In recent weeks, both Republicans and Democrats have tried with mixed results to affect military policy and spending, and one House Democrat demanded that Bush tell Congress his endgame.

But the President has announced no plans for withdrawal, and in a May 31, 2005 press conference, he suggested that U.S. troops will remain in Iraq until the fledgling government there is able to protect the newly-installed democracy.

The voice of Congress

The latest supplemental spending bill for the military demonstrates disagreements between Congress and the Bush administration over how to fight the war.

Congress added hundreds of millions of dollars for equipment that the Pentagon did not request, a move that reveals different understandings of the severity of the conflict. In its report on the spending bill, Congress reprimanded the Pentagon’s assessments of what is needed for combat. The measure added $308 million for vehicle armor and $60 million for devices that work against the remote detonation of bombs.

Women in combat

A very different critique of the military came from the House Military Personnel Subcommittee, which voted to ban women from direct ground combat. Although there was little support for the amendment (it never reached the House floor), its supporters publicly condemned the military for including women in combat battalions in Iraq.

In response, Army leaders strongly criticized the legislation. Their letters to Congress remarked on women’s superb performance in a wide range of situations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Exit strategy?

Another critique in the form of legislation came from Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D- California). She offered an amendment to the defense authorization bill that would have required Bush to provide Congress with a strategy for withdrawing from Iraq.

The measure won only 128 votes and infuriated Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R- Texas), who implied that the legislation was treasonous. He said that the amendment’s proponents were giving "aid and comfort to the enemy," the same phrase used in the Constitution to define treason, a capital offense.

Conaway’s point of view - that withdrawal would embolden U.S. enemies - is sharply contested within Congress. In the Senate, John Ensign (R- Nevada) has said that the presence of U.S. forces only encourages insurgents.

Even some House Republicans who have strongly supported the war believe that it’s time for the U.S. to pull out. Rep. Walter B. Jones (R- North Carolina), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, has said that the U.S. has "given enough blood and money in Iraq." And Todd Tiahrt (R- Kansas), member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, stated that troops should be coming home at the start of 2006.

Restless

The pockets of impatience in Congress may reflect the American public’s readiness for the war to end.

Do you believe that U.S. troops should withdraw? If civil war erupted in Iraq as a result, what do you think it would mean for our security? Do you believe Congress was right to appropriate more money for supplies? How has your opinion of the war changed over time?

What do you think?

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Update Posted on: 6/5/2005