BREAKING: Sen. John Warner To Introduce Resolution Opposing Iraq Escalation
BREAKING: Sen. John Warner To Introduce Resolution Opposing Iraq Escalation
Sen. John Warner (R-VA) will introduce a resolution today “making clear that he does not support the President on increasing the troop levels in Iraq” and calling escalation “a mistake,” CNN’s Dana Bash reports. Warner’s resolution will be cosponsored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Ben Nelson (D-NE).
Warner, the former Armed Services Committee chairman, is a “very influential voice when it comes to military matters,” Bash reports, and until this fall had been “whole-heartedly behind the president and the war.” His new resolution “certainly…is not going to sit well with the White House.” Watch it:
Warner said last week that Congress must move swiftly to address President Bush’s new strategy. “Each of us are pained by the casualties that we are taking. We cannot dither around on it.” Warner’s bill is viewed as a less confrontational alternative to the Iraq resolution backed by Sens. Joe Biden (D-DE), Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Carl Levin (D-MI).
Full transcript:
DANA BASH: Well, today, we are going to hear from a very influential, a senior Republican, making clear that he does not support the president on increasing the troop levels in Iraq. That Republican is the senior senator from Virginia, the former Armed Services Chairman in the Senate, John Warner.
We are told that he is going to introduce a resolution late this afternoon along with at least one other Republican and a conservative Democrat, making clear that he believes that sending more U.S. troops into what he has called increasing sectarian violence is a mistake.
And that is a message, certainly that is not going to sit well with the White House because John Warner, as I said, is a very influential voice when it comes to military matters, especially the Iraq war. Until this fall, he had been whole-heartedly behind the president and the war. He’s somebody who has a lot of sway with his colleagues, Republicans and Democrats here on the Hill.
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84 Responses to “BREAKING: Sen. John Warner To Introduce Resolution Opposing Iraq Escalation”
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Nothing like undercutting what's likely to be a facile re-hashing of all the failed justifications and policy in the useless State of the Union address.
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:46 amA centrist proposal.
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:49 amNo! Bad CommanderInChief.
Sit, Stay.
No, stop barking at Iraq.
Be nice, play nice.
Bad, Bad president.
HEE HEE!
Wonder how tight they can circle the BushCo wagons now? May only need 1 wagon, for Darth, Bill Kristol, Prozac Laura and Barney .......
Oops! Barney just jumped out.
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:53 amOoops, the wagon just ran over Barney!
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:56 amIf they can get Ben Nelson to go against Bush, I think it's just about over for the escalation. It's starting to look like Bush's "surge" plan is going to go the way of his Social Security privatization plan.
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:57 amBut does Warner support Bush's "augmentation?"
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:58 amAnd Laura is starting to wake up!
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:58 amread the wording, it will be so full of loopholes that it will be meaningless.
might want to consider this as a pre frontal lobotomy announcement to the upcoming surgery that is iran
we are a stupid lot to think a senator would want to stop a war keeping it in office
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:58 amWell Indecision is really bad, it is time to act, go ahead or back out. Time wasted only shows divergence of views and enemy gains by it.
http://blogs.ibibo.com/TechnicalJournal
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:58 amOoops, the wagon just ran over Barney!
Comment by RUCerious
That's okay. He's only a number.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:00 pmOops! Barney just jumped out.
Comment by upside48
Did you get an upgrade from upside00?
Heh.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:00 pmOoops, the wagon just ran over Barney!
Comment by RUCerious
There! Are you guys satisfied now? You've been bitching about how none of the Bushes were in any danger from this war. Now, they know the true cost of war!
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:01 pmThe reason for this:
The Republican establishment has finally realized that Bush will not take out the troops while he is president. And they know that by leaving things in the status quo, they will get DESTROYED in 2008. Absolutely DESTROYED and it terrifies them.
The Iraq Study Group was supposed to be Bush's way out of this mess, but he brushed it aside.
So now the Republican establishment realizes its time to either go down with Bush, or make it very clear that he's not their boy anymore.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:01 pmGood way to start this week with Warner's announcement. Contact all GOP Senators and tell them to join Hagel, Snowe, Warner and others in opposing Bush's escalation of his WAR. Keep up the hard work to stop Bush in his tracks.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:06 pmMike - spot on.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:06 pmAs every politician knows, the most important thing is the next election and staying in POWER.
People are dying, not a real concern for some.
Staying in POWER, a real deal.
The group from West Virginia will be in DC on 1-27. See you there "Your Conscience "
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:06 pmFINALLY!
...Maybe?
...there's hope...
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:10 pmZooey, I NEVER give away upgrades, my legs are too long for coach
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:14 pmZooey, I NEVER give away upgrades, my legs are too long for coach
Comment by upside48
Heh. Mine, too.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:17 pmThere's a real danger here of the Administration crying wolf one too many times. They're so anxious to engage Iran that they're willing to make stuff up to justify another war. One day, though, there will be a very real threat to the US, and everybody, jaded by years of B.S. pinched by this administration, will be too suspect of their very real warnings to do anything about them.
What's that saying about our own worst enemy???
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:18 pmHah. You know its bad WHEN A REPUBLICAN introduces the legislation.
Kudos to you John Warner. Kudos.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:20 pm#'s 14 & 17 - I agree. This isn't about protecting American lives and our national treasury...it's about protecting the repub butts. Bush cannot provide any support in 2008, he is clearly a liability. Repubs understand what happened in 2006 cannot be fixed by sticking with bush. 70% of Americans do not support him...that alone should be enough to run as far away from anything he proposes as possible.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:22 pmI'm glad the Dems took control of Congress, because if they hadn't Warner wouldn't be doing this.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:22 pmIs this a BINDING resolution?
Please , please, please say yes.........
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:25 pmShowdown time.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:29 pmbut i thought dana bash told us that this was a liberleral left position.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:36 pmEven though it's a non-binding "sense of the Senate" type of resolution, watch it fail.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:49 pmBe very suspicious of anything Warner et al come up with! They are double talkers extraordinaire! They do it with aplomb and this new resolution will be nothing more than a diversionary "smokescreen" so full of loopholes it'll look like swiss cheese! Nice try, Warner...but the people already have YOUR number and it reads something like "hypocrite".
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:56 pmGuess the GOP thugs are getting very nervous for their chances of the white house in 08! At this rate - with Bush's miopia and overdeveloped ego (not to mention mental illness), they realize the handwriting on the wall....now only 23% are "with 'em" on this new increase in troops....that rapidly-falling poll number will decend like the Titanic as this nutcase keeps up his egomaniacal reign so absolutely NO REPUBLICAN will have a chance at reelection or election in 08....that's why they're jumping the sinking Titanic like flies! That's the only reason.....their own pompous arsses!
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:59 pmThe longer this IRAQ NIGHTMARE is in the faces of the american people who find it increasingly appalling, the greater the losses to the GOP in terms of their candidates getting anywhere in the future....and they know it....ergo....the talking heads like Warner et al posturing as though they've had enough.....it's simply an "act" for their political future....don't believe a word they say. They've lied before therefore cannot be ever trusted again.
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:00 pmTalk to Dumbya about "confrontation" and "in your face" arrogance! The dems need to get tougher - much tougher and get in the faces of the corrupt GOP mobsters.
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:01 pm[...] And it doesn’t stop there. In the Senate, I’ve gone from having two Iraq war cheerleaders to two Senators who publicly oppose Bush’s Iraq plans. Now, I expect much more than this from my representatives, but this is a damn good start . . . _uacct = "UA-727906-1"; urchinTracker(); [...]
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:03 pmWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military helicopter that crashed outside Baghdad, killing all 12 on board, was shot down by a shoulder-fired missile, CNN reported on Monday.
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:04 pmOoops, the wagon just ran over Barney!
Comment by RUCerious
That's alright. When the history of Barney's life is finally written is finally written, his death will be just a comma.
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:06 pmWarner sure did tell them (BushCo)!
I don't know about you, but I'm moving out of the way fast, so as not to get trampled by Bush's rush to bring the troops home (not).
Between now and January 20, 2009, every two weeks another Republican senator will introduce legislation stating, "What he said" and "Me, too" and "We really mean it", to be followed by "really."
'No Confidence' resolutions = 'No Action'
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:15 pmWhat does the "girly Man" Lindsey Graham think about this??
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:28 pmThis resolution will send the wrong message to the troops, undermine their morale and embolden the terrorists.
Why do Republicans hate our troops? Why do they hate America?
Remember: You are either with us or against us -which means we should all do, say, and think whatever out Dear (mis)Leader says we should.
/heavy dose of sarcasm off...
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:43 pm[...] CNN Transcript from Think Progress: DANA BASH: Well, today, we are going to hear from a very influential, a senior Republican, making clear that he does not support the president on increasing the troop levels in Iraq. That Republican is the senior senator from Virginia, the former Armed Services Chairman in the Senate, John Warner. [...]
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:53 pm[...] Watch Video [...]
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:58 pm[...] Watch the video at Think Progress [...]
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:02 pm#28 veritas
Be very suspicious of anything Warner et al come up with! They are double talkers extraordinaire! They do it with aplomb and this new resolution will be nothing more than a diversionary “smokescreen†so full of loopholes it’ll look like swiss cheese! Nice try, Warner…but the people already have YOUR number and it reads something like “hypocriteâ€.
That might be true, but it's not the point whether or not the resolution has teeth or is going to really do anything. It's all about image, and the image that it conveys is that Bush has nobody left on his side (unless you count McCain and Lieberman as somebody). It tells other Republicans that it's safe to join in. With Ben Nelson on board, it says "Look, even this guy, the Democrat from Nebraska who won't even think an unkind thought about Bush, doesn't see it as politically risky to oppose the surge." It's an acknowledgement that the whole country is against him. And, Laura and Barney are about ready to flip, too.
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:21 pmThe Bush Jr. /Cheney refusal to obtain additional authorization from Congress for this substantial enlargement of U.S. armed forces in Iraq constitutes an impeachable offense under the terms of Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution for violating the Constitution’s War Powers Clause and Congress’s own War Powers Resolution
If President Bush Jr. and Vice President Cheney are not stopped immediately by means of impeachment, they could readily set off World War III in the volatile Middle East, Persian Gulf and Central Asia, where two-thirds of the world’s hydrocarbon resources are up for grabs among the United States, Russia, China, and India. The Guns of August indeed.
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:40 pmchimpeach - I really want to be there with video cam rolling when Barney chomps the imperial ankle!
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:41 pmO, it's REALLY bad for the busy boy when Warner is opposing him!! Get the hint, georgie?!
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:42 pmNearly half of Iraqis are under 18
The Next Jihadists: Iraq's Lost Children
Jan. 22, 2007 issue - Ammar will tell you he's proud to be carrying a gun. His father was a brigadier in Saddam Hussein's Army, a man who saw combat in his country's several wars, and from an early age Ammar had accompanied him to the shooting range. "I got used to the sound of guns then," Ammar says. So he was ready, last fall, when the imam in his Baghdad neighborhood urged residents to take up arms against the invader—who in this case happened to be members of a Shiite militia trying to push into the predominantly Sunni area. Ammar joined the neighborhood watch, a ragtag bunch of men who stand guard nightly at improvised roadblocks and rooftop observation posts. In mid-October Ammar fought his first big battle against soldiers from the Mahdi Army—"the garbage collectors and robbers," as he contemptuously refers to the Shiite militia. He says he put his Kalashnikov assault rifle to good use: "I think I injured or even killed two of them. Our group killed more than six of them that night."
KARMA IS COMING TO AMERICA ONE DAY YOU HAVE TO REALISE THIS FROM YOUR ACTIONS
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:45 pmI think the republicans are pretty much certain that the presidency in 2008 is a lost cause. They are splintering because one after the other they're wising up to the fact that their own seat is very much in play should they back the president for this war.
I can't help but think however, that all these rats would be a-ok with this foolish plan had the republicans maintained the majority.
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:52 pm#43 RUCerious
chimpeach - I really want to be there with video cam rolling when Barney chomps the imperial ankle!
You know that big yellow sunburst rug in the Oval Office that Bush was so proud of? Think of Barney as a little black rain cloud.
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:52 pm41. I agree. This is the time when the republicans have to find a footing that doesn't already have the stench of Bush. Look at what even McCain is saying to distance himself. McCain has put his money and future on escalation (even more than what Bush wants) and he'll ride that until it dies. Lieberman was attempting to be a thorn in the dems side. He also yearns to be president and knows it won't be with the DNC so he has to court middle of the roaders. He will also have the baggage of "Stay the Course" around his neck.
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:52 pm>That might be true, but it’s not the point whether or not the resolution has teeth or is going to really do anything.
chimpeach
I would disagree with this wholeheartedly. Don't believe that this is anything than an attempt by Republicans to stop the momentum to cut off funding for "staying the course". Warner knows that the outcome of '08 depends upon upstaging the Dems and allowing Bush to ignore anything that is non-binding... it's all just smoke... don't buy into it. Warner is not your friend.
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:56 pmSenate Republicans have plenty to worry about in '08. Of the senate seats up for election next year, 21 are held by Republicans and 12 by Democrats.
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:59 pmOn Iraq, Chuck Hagel Better Than Any of the Democrats
Chuck Hagel for president! If it ever narrows down to a choice between him and some Democratic hack who hasn’t the guts to fundamentally challenge the president on Iraq, then the conservative Republican from Nebraska will have my vote. Yes, the war is that important, and the fact that Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, the leading Democratic candidate, still can’t or won’t take a clear stand on the occupation is insulting to the vast majority of voters who have.
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:01 pmBush’s Doublethink
The most peculiar passage in President Bush’s much-dissected “surge†speech was this: “I have made it clear to the prime minister [Nouri al-Maliki] and Iraq’s other leaders that America’s commitment is not open-ended. If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people.â€
“America’s commitment is not open-ended.†No? So may we assume that if al-Maliki and his government don’t fulfill certain conditions, Bush is ready to withdraw American forces and bring them home? That’s the implication — except he can’t really mean that.
And don’t you think al-Maliki knows Bush can’t withdraw? He hears Bush’s speeches, too, and he’s no dummy. So in fact he has Bush over a barrel.
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:06 pmThere is one more way to end the Iraq war through the Congress...
Amend the Constitution.
I know it's a longshot but with 77% disapproval, it's not too far out of the woods.
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:07 pmIs anyone keeping count of the flip-flopp...oops ..I mean change in course by Republican stalwarts. Or is this an effort to save the Republican Party from complete destruction. Republicans have told the lies so often it is hard for them to look at the truth, and it is quite simple. To save the Republican Party will require an impeachment effort on the part of the Republicans in the House. Come on guys, you already have the experience.
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:12 pm#49 toast
I certainly don't think of Warner as my friend. But, I don't think his intentions really make much difference. This is a huge black eye for Bush, delivered on the eve of his SOTU address. This puts a tremendous hurt on what Bush and Cheney and Rove are trying to do. I can guarantee you they aren't happy about it. Like I said, it makes it easier for other Republicans to join in. At what point does it become impossible for Limbaugh, Hannity, Fox News, etc. to continue calling anti-surge Republicans "cowards"? The propaganda machine is really straining and this thing could kill it.
Remember how Bush went out on the trail and kept on pushing Social Security privatization? He just wouldn't give up until there were so many Republicans in Congress begging him to shut up that he finally had to concede that it wasn't going anywhere. This is a little different, because it's not dependent on getting a bill passed to make it go through. But, if escalation becomes as unpopular in Congress as privatization was, there's a good chance of passing a bill that will put a stop to it. And, the more he butts heads with Congress, the more he greases the skids for his own impeachment.
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:12 pm#52 FM - No, al Maliki will be gunned down in an unfortunate "accident" inside the Green Zone.
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:17 pmThat's what Bush means.
GOP 2008 slate try to cover their ass... "Augmentation" LOL
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:23 pmLet's hope this is a prelude to...
...finding out where our money is...
...I want mine back...
...seriously...
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:27 pmYou go ahead and do your resolootion, you little traytor! Were wining in Iraq and will probably be wining in Iran in another year if those loosers in congress dont screw it up for us and the rest of the world! Wait til mcain gets elected next year, then all the cut and runers willbe scrambeling to hide under there desks when conservative values come back in a big way. Thats when well take care of them onse and for all! Were wining in Iraq and those loosers can't doanything about it! We need more paytriots like bush runing the country.
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:28 pm#57 don't say "ass". The TP thought police will make you sit in the corner.
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:29 pmCarl- I hope your joking. If not, you are a poster child for birth control.
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:30 pm"The thought police would get him just the same. He had committed—would have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper—the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime, they called it. Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you." -George Orwell, 1984
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:38 pmWhat if the troop escalation was a Rove-Bush tactic to focus the American people and politicians alike on a fight with the Bush administration over troop levels in Iraq? Carefully choreographed, the President would lose this fight; giving America and its politicians a perceived win. Perhaps all along the troop issue was a red-herring so that when escalation is finally put to rest, instead of reducing troop levels (which would surely be the fight now otherwise), troop levels will remain at there current levels for the next two years. This administration has been guilty more than once of using deplorable tactics like this to shape policy.
January 22nd, 2007 at 4:03 pmI would not trust John Warner nor any other Republican.Remember when Bush wanted his Millitary tribunal bill passed,and Warner,McCain,and Graham pretended to rebel.They caved and gave them just what they asked for.No explainations.Just flip-floped.Same tactics here.Impeachment is the only solution to the problems of this country.A new beginning.Warner is too old to care.he cant run for President,and probably wont run again for the Senate.
January 22nd, 2007 at 4:38 pm[...] If this doesn’t create a storm I’ll be fairly surprised. John Warner, R-VA, has been a supporter of the Iraq Fiasco for about as long as its inception, so for him to stand up and oppose the surge so bluntly is going to be something indeed. DANA BASH: Well, today, we are going to hear from a very influential, a senior Republican, making clear that he does not support the president on increasing the troop levels in Iraq. That Republican is the senior senator from Virginia, the former Armed Services Chairman in the Senate, John Warner. [...]
January 22nd, 2007 at 5:08 pmWarner said what he did, because Bush has all but broken the military, and the officers just below the top generals know it. (Read Cobra II and Fiasco). Warner , from Virginia, has been hearing from these bird colonels, and the incompetence of american war planners is clear to see. Just about every lesson we should have learned from Viet Nam has been disregarded. This is an occupation, not a war...and the fools who got us into this were planning for a Cakewalk.Pathetic.
January 22nd, 2007 at 5:21 pmBushie should be in a good mood tomorrow. His speechwriters have been complaining -- wait, it will get worse, guys. Better plan to write and re-write all night -- I know, it's hard to write for a stubborn monkey who can neither understand nor pronounce big words, but would prefer stomp his feet on the podium, screeching and throwing peanuts at his audience.
January 22nd, 2007 at 5:27 pmAn Impolite Update...
“certainly that is not going to sit well with the White House.“
January 22nd, 2007 at 5:31 pmAre all the Republicans now traitors, or just the influential ones? John Warner is going to offer a resolution. Tossing more U.S. troops on top of the chaos? Not a good idea...
#63 Mike Lundgren
Perhaps all along the troop issue was a red-herring...
Or maybe... they just want you to believe it was a red herring. That's how sneaky they are. Whatever you think is exactly what they wanted you to think.
January 22nd, 2007 at 5:53 pm#67 Marie
I know, it’s hard to write for a stubborn monkey who can neither understand nor pronounce big words, but would prefer stomp his feet on the podium, screeching and throwing peanuts at his audience.
Uh, those aren't peanuts. They might have been before, but they're not now.
January 22nd, 2007 at 5:56 pmWhere was the old fossil when we needed him? You can surely tell the Repubs eho are planning on running again---they finally speak out against the war! Phooey! You'll pardon me now, I've got to go to my second job now!
January 22nd, 2007 at 6:08 pmWhen the history of Barney's life is finally written, it will just be a comma. comment by Chuck
January 22nd, 2007 at 6:23 pm
tee hee, chimpeach
January 22nd, 2007 at 6:24 pm:)
the guy in the glasses, behind warner -
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:56 pmis that National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley
or his twin bother?
I guzzle oil but I don't support the government who provides it for me.
I support the troops but they can fend for themselves.
I blame the preseident because I really have no idea how the government functions.
As you can see, I'm retarded
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:38 pm#74 - katy, I've been wondering if that was him, and it is! What's he doing there?
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:01 pm#74 Katy,
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:19 amI thought from the first time I looked at that photo that the bespectacled guy behind Warner is Hadley. So what does this mean or indicate?
When I think more about this, it could be an old photo that just happens to be in TP's file.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:22 amlora, zooey... thanks for verifying...
lora's idea of a file photo makes sense - but, it is CNN footage...
i was trying to figure why a cabinet guy is hangin' with senators...
January 23rd, 2007 at 1:16 amstill am, actually... but it probably is another day in time...
#79 Katy, you're welcome. The other men in the photo look like Senators Brownback and Cornyn--hardly the ones who are currently joining in on Warner's proposal. Therefore, I think it's a somewhat old file photo taken from CNN for some other issue.
January 23rd, 2007 at 1:39 amHadley, Brownback, Graham and Cornyn all standing behind Warner. A deceptive film used by CNN (note no voice was accompanying this file film, because it was irrelevant and old).
Sharp eyes, gals -- we all noticed the same details!!
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:53 amInstead of sending more troops and spending more money on the Iraq War our government needs to be taking more initiative on a promise it made in 2000 with other countries. This promise is known as the Millennium Goals. The first of the eight Millennium Goals is to end global poverty by 2025. According to the Borgen Project, only $60 billion is needed to attain all goals by 2015.
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:36 amsenate warner , you need togive total support to the war effort ,anything less is in support of the enemy. as far as i'm concern you are just as wromg as the anti - war protesters. you and the protesters are encouraginging the enemy to keep up the war. we need to wipe outand we have the power to do so.
January 28th, 2007 at 11:49 amJohn Warner wants to get re-elected again, but he will not get my vote. I have always voted Republican, but I will not vote next time for Warner.I have a Grandson in Irag and John Warner wants to leave him high and dry without any help, and yes I am a WW II Vet.
February 2nd, 2007 at 11:37 am