Cut And Run 3.0 On Display At The Victory Caucus
The Democratic plan to lose the war in Iraq has been transcribed by NZ Bear at The Victory Caucus. NZ also has a link to a PDF scan of the document, but the gist of the bill is captured in his transcription. The heart of its unconstitionality can be found in Sections 1902 and 1903:
Sec. 1902 (a) Congress finds that it is Defense Department policy that Army, Army Reserve and National Guard units should not be deployed for combat beyond 365 days or that Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve units should not be deployed for combat beyond 210 days.
Congress may also find that the executive branch sets that policy and its parameters for implementation. The Constitution gives Congress no authority to either deploy troops or to undeploy them, only to give the executive the authority to conduct war and the power of the purse to end it. This looks very much like an intrusion on the President's authority as Commander in Chief to determine troop movements during conflict, and puts the United States in a position where we have 535 Commanders in Chief -- definitely not what the founders had in mind.
After this, Section 1904 lists the series of benchmarks and timetables for achieving them. Among these are the fanciful notion that "Iraq's political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the Iraqi Security Forces" by July 1, 2007. That means anyone in any leadership position in the Iraqi government who makes a questionable criticism of the Iraqi security forces will force a withdrawal of American troops from Iraq -- an impossible standard, and one which shows how silly this exercise has become.
If we hear the word "doodyhead" from the chair of the natural resources committee in the National Assembly, applied to a police officer, the Democrats will force a retreat.
That's not the only ridiculous threshold, either. By October 1 of this year, the Iraqis have to amend their constitution to some unspecified purpose, or we have to start withdrawing immediately. I'd like the Democrats to point to a single amendment passed by the US that took six months from start to finish to implement, outside of Reconstruction and the original Bill of Rights.
This bill is a joke, and the authors are the worst comedians on the circuit.
Posted by Ed Morrissey on March 14, 2007 9:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (2)
