Captain's Quarters Blog


« Germans Also Return To The Seventies | Main | On Second Thought ... »

November 15, 2005
Senate GOP Plays Smart Tactics, Not Surrender (Updated)

Several CQ readers point out this article in today's New York Times, angry at what appears to be yet another Republican surrender to the Democrats on the national stage. The GOP has introduced a measure that will require the White House to publicly lay out a victory in Iraq and some sort of plan for the phased withdrawal of troops afterwards:

In a sign of increasing unease among Congressional Republicans over the war in Iraq, the Senate is to consider on Tuesday a Republican proposal that calls for Iraqi forces to take the lead next year in securing the nation and for the Bush administration to lay out its strategy for ending the war. ...

The proposal on the Iraq war, from Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, and Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, would require the administration to provide extensive new quarterly reports to Congress on subjects like progress in bringing in other countries to help stabilize Iraq. The other appeals related to Iraq are nonbinding and express the position of the Senate.

The plan stops short of a competing Democratic proposal that moves toward establishing dates for a phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq. But it is built upon the Democratic approach and makes it clear that senators of both parties are increasingly eager for Iraqis to take control of their country in coming months and open the door to removing American troops.

The Senate will debate two different bills. This measure comes in response to a Democratic proposal that would set a specific timetable for troop withdrawals, a bad idea that doesn't take into account Iraqi troop strength or on-the-ground status of the insurgency and native forces. Republicans want to stay ahead of the Democrats in war management, and this keeps the GOP in the lead.

It isn't unreasonable to have Congress call for some accounting from the White House on the status of Iraq, given the 150,000 troops currently deployed on a police mission there. It doesn't have to be a net negative for Bush to come to the Senate to present his side of the story; as the events this past week have shown, the President can use that kind of platform to correct many distortions of his record and the state of the effort in Iraq. Given the frustration many in the GOP feel with the White House in communicating all the good that our intervention has created, it sounds like a very good idea indeed, one that might be cast as a long-overdue bullhorn.

The second part of the GOP effort, however, does seem more like surrender:

The Senate is also scheduled to vote Tuesday on a compromise, announced Monday night, that would allow terror detainees some access to federal courts. The Senate had voted last week to prohibit those being held from challenging their detentions in federal court, despite a Supreme Court ruling to the contrary.

Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who is the author of the initial plan, said Monday that he had negotiated a compromise that would allow detainees at Guantnamo Bay, Cuba, to challenge their designation as enemy combatants in federal courts and also allow automatic appeals of any convictions handed down by the military where detainees receive prison terms of 10 years or more or a death sentence.

It depends on the manner of the capture of these detainees as to whether they should have access to federal court and how much jurisdiction those courts should be given. Those captured in open battle against American troops, such as in Iraq and Afghanistan, should have none. We do not want to treat battlefield captures as arrests, and have defense attorneys issuing subpoenas to American soldiers for courtroom testimony. Terrorists captured under these circumstances should either be shot on capture -- as provided by the Geneva accords -- or handled strictly within the military.

I can see a point in making a distinction for those caught by the CIA and FBI, however. Those do not qualify as enemy combatants in the manner of the detainees described above, and really fall into the category of espionage/sabotage agents, which traditionally have had their cases heard in civilian courts. If the Lindsay Graham measure allows for strict secrecy on agents and methods, and only allows access to the appellate system for its public review and not fact-finding, then it could be an acceptable compromise.

I would hesitate in reading either as a capitulation in any circumstance. The former looks like an excellent tactical play on behalf of the White House by the Republican caucus, while the latter -- in light of the Supreme Court ruling which it hopes to replace -- may be the best retrieval possible of a bad situation.

UPDATE: CQ readers strongly disagree with me, as does Hugh Hewitt and most of the conservative blogosphere on this point. Well, I've been wrong before and I'll be wrong again, but bear with me for a moment on this.

I will grant everyone that in this hyperpartisan atmosphere, any attempt to find a middle ground looks like surrender, and very well might be surrender. However, I think when readers check out the entire NYT article, John Warner's assurance that the Republican version of this bill will set no timetables for withdrawal marks an important difference. It respects the executive's prerogrative to run the war, but also preserves the people's prerogative to have the executive report on its progress on a regular basis. In this case, with the Iraqi government talking about the withdrawal of American troops next year, it doesn't sound unreasonable for the White House to consult Congress in such a manner.

Many of us have felt a huge amount of dissatisfaction with the communication from the White House on the great work our men and women in Iraq do on a daily basis. This would give an excellent forum for the Bush administration to highlight all of that as well as to continually drive home the goals for the Iraq phase of the war on terror, which they have generally only done when they could no longer avoid doing so for political reasons.

I am no great fan of the Senate GOP leadership, but when faced with an increasingly skeptical public, a more or less silent White House, and the Democratic initiative to force a timetable from Bush, this might be the best of a bad situation. At least, as I wrote above, it doesn't have to be a net negative.

I urge people to read through the excellent comments disagreeing with me from the CQ community. If nothing else, it proves that Captain's Quarters is no echo chamber. Be sure to check out Hugh's post for contact information if you want to protest the Republican action in the Senate.

Sphere It Digg! View blog reactions
Posted by Ed Morrissey at November 15, 2005 6:31 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Senate GOP Plays Smart Tactics, Not Surrender (Updated):

» Rep Senators Screw Us All from The Strata-Sphere
UPDATE: The response to this news (NY Times article here) has been interesting, if not a bit pollyanish. Capt Ed thinks this is a winning strategy - especially if Bush reports to Congress every quarter toexplan our progress (use the bullypulpit). ... [Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2005 8:06 AM

» Election-year politics isn’t always a bad thing from The Shape of Days

Everybody’s talking today about

[Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2005 9:29 AM

» FINALLY, CONGRESS DOES THE RIGHT THING ON DETAINEES from Right Wing Nut House
It appears that Congress is about to finally take the lead and clarify the legal status of detainees who have been languishing at Guantanamo and other sites around the world in a kind of legal limbo that has been both a blot on American jurisprudence ... [Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2005 9:48 AM

» REPUBLICANS ADMIT: WE HAVE NO IDEAS from The Heretik
JOHN WARNER, DISTINGUISHED cut and paste Republican senator from Virginia, may or may not be charged with plagiarism in the new cut and paste Republican “plan” to cut and run from Iraq. Message: Get out, America. But there is [Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2005 9:57 AM

» Senate Proposals for Iraq from Magnums Conservative Voice
According to an AP story the Senate is preparing to vote on a couple of proposals today that are meant to tell President Bush what they believe America's policies on Iraq should be. There are two proposals one Republican and one Democrat, whichever w... [Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2005 10:28 AM

» Et tu Brute, or a subtle strategery? from The Anchoress
Who knows what the heck is going on with Senate Republicans these days? Last week I popped off in anger at them for their cowardice, and was taken to task for doing so, buy several Republicans who felt I was “weakening” the GOP Senate, &#... [Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2005 1:31 PM

» Dems Plan to Undermine War on Terror Fails from Donkey Stomp
It is amazing what Dems will do without putting any thought into the consequences of their demands. [Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2005 2:40 PM

» GOP Goes After Weathervane Hawks from Don Surber
Don't take my word for it. Ed Morrissey has the thing nailed. [Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2005 3:21 PM

» Just Exactly What We DON'T Need from Small Town Veteran
Now isn't that just ******* wonderful? Why don't we just set a date in advance and tell the G*d-damned jihadis that if they just lie low and wait a little longer we'll pull out and turn the country over to them? [Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2005 6:14 PM

» Republicide Revisited from Hard Starboard
That moniker does have a history in my writings. The first time I used it was during the 1996 GOP primaries when every Pachyderm presidential pretender morphed into born-again Democrats at the prospect of a Reagan Republican (in the person of Steve F... [Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2005 6:15 PM

» Tuesday Night Round-Up from The Right Nation
On the 24th of November, William Buckley Jr. will celebrate his 80th birthday. The Economist (via The Mote in God's Eyes, with an amazing post) takes the chance to ponder about the future of the American Conservative Movement and the Republican Party... [Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2005 8:11 PM

» Spineless Congressional Republicans Update from Martin's Musings
This resolution was an egregious slap in the face to not only to the President of the United States, but to the men and women fighting the war on terrorism at home and abroad, and the citizens of Iraq. Today's lack of support to the troops reeks of V... [Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2005 8:41 PM

» A comity of errors, choice vs. echo dept. from Virtual Fret Noise
A visitor from another planet watching the Senate today would never guess the GOP has a majority. More great leadership from Dr. Frist and they won't have it much longer. The Democrats proposed an amendment, effectively calling for surrender in Iraq. Th [Read More]

Tracked on November 15, 2005 8:47 PM

» Conservative bloggers differ from scoopstories
I like to look at a few blogs before I go to bed.Tonite I noticed that a Captain's Quarters item is being criticized by other conservative blogs for its take on a New York Times article: Several CQ readers point [Read More]

Tracked on November 16, 2005 6:48 AM

>Comments


Design & Skinning by:
m2 web studios





blog advertising



button1.jpg

Proud Ex-Pat Member of the Bear Flag League!