The Democrats won control of Congress based largely on an end the war platform.  Now that they are in charge, they are being forced to define their strategy to get the US out of Iraq.  Thus far their proposals have been ridiculous at best and dangerous to our troops still serving in Iraq at worst. 

First we heard about the plan to cut funding for the war.  The theory behind the bill was that without money, the President would be forced to withdraw from Iraq immediately.  When the backlash hit that cutting funding would endanger our troops by withholding needed supplies, the Democrats insisted that they would never cut funding to our service members.  They only wanted to stop funding the war.  Such a distinction is not possible.  Our troops are the war effort and any cut in funding takes money away from the troops.   

Our troops would fight, and have fought, without armor plated vehicles to protect them from IEDs.  They have fought without sufficient supplies of kevlar vests.  Many soldiers and Marines have purchased their own vests or asked family members to find them and send them to Iraq.   Cut funding for weapons, ammunition, even gasoline and you will leave our troops vulnerable.   

The next proposal by Democrats to get the United States out of Iraq has been to set a “date certain,” to quote House Speaker Pelosi, for a total withdrawal of our troops.   Again this bill would do more harm than good.  By setting a date for our withdrawal regardless of the stability of the Iraqi government at the time is the legislative equivalent of sending the insurgents a gold plated invitation to civil war.  The insurgents will only have to destabilize the government enough to prevent the Iraqi leaders from meeting the progress benchmarks set by the Democrats in Congress to force a US withdrawal, or simply stockpile their weapons and wait until the date set for our withdrawal.  Either way, the bill serves only to set the Iraqi government, and our mission in Iraq, up for failure. 

Instead of trying to curry public favor by presenting ineffective plans to get the United States out of Iraq, the Democrats would be better off working with the President and the military commanders in Iraq to ensure victory.  When our military has the resources and support necessary to ensure victory, they will be able to complete their mission and leave Iraq with a stable and democratic government.  And shouldn’t that be the goal shared by the White House and Congress?