Congressman Roy Blunt Calls for Passage of Clean Troop-Funding Bill

One day after leading anti-war Democratic Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania said, "The surge (in Iraq) is working," House Republican Whip Roy Blunt called on congressional Democrats to put aside what he calls their political posturing and pass a clean troop support bill before Congress leaves the Hill for its Christmas recess.

Murtha visited Iraq in person and concluded that the surge strategy is beginning to show definite success. "This could be a real headache for us... Pelosi is going to be furious," a top House Democratic aid is reported to have said in response.

United States troop deaths have experienced very sharp declines in October and November, and began declining in the summer. The incidences of roadside bombs--the number one killer of U.S. soldier troops in Iraq--have also fallen off significantly.

"With one of the Democrats' leading war critics now saying the surge in Iraq is working, it's difficult to understand why the majority continues to push an irresponsible withdrawal plan that jeopardizes critical support funding for our troops. It can't be the facts on the ground that are influencing their decision-making...It's time for the majority to stop playing games and deliver a well-deserved gift in time for Christmas to our men and women in uniform: a clean supplemental funding bill," Blunt's statement read.

However, Democratic Senator John Tester of Montana, who also just returned from an Iraq visit, stated to the press that he saw definite surge-success in just one Iraqi province, and that is not enough to convince him that the war should continue to be funded and prosecuted.

The United States military has already begun scaling back its efforts in Iraq so that the Iraqi military and intelligence agencies can begin assuming control of their nation.

Tester did, however, express his deep respect for the American troops, saying they are doing incredible work and that their spirits are high.

Tester also acknowledged that the civil war between Shi'ites and Sunnis has been curtailed in about 33% of the nation. However, he refused to see in these facts any validation for the Bush Administration's policies, but instead interpreted them as affording the United States a "window of opportunity" to pull out the great majority of its troops without having to be concerned about causing more harm than good or destabilizing the nation and the region.

However, Tester was informed by the military high command that if the U.S. began a full pull-out but left most of its equipment behind, it would still take eight months to complete. If the U.S. made sure to bring all of its equipment back home so that enemies such as Iran could not have any chance of getting hold of it, the pull-out would take two years to complete, they told the Senator.

Tester's comments, let alone those of Murtha, are however a far cry from the maligning of General David Petraeus that far Left Democrats engaged in a couple of months ago, sometimes sarcastically re-naming the commander "General Betray Us".

Today, Murtha told the press that although the surge is working, America still cannot win the war in Iraq through military means and the Iraqi government is moving too slowly on its end of the deal, so that, like Tester, he believes the U.S. should use this success as a "window of opportunity" to begin the pull-out.

Critics of the Democrats' position were quick to harshly criticize this attitude as knee-jerk defeatism based on none of the evidence.

Original Newswire Source:
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