The Murtha-Bowers Plan to Stay in Iraq Forever

Chris Bowers is a smart guy. But after spending months "figuring out a way to end the war," he only figured out a way to keep it going forever.

First he embraces the brand-new Murtha Plan

to attach a provision to an upcoming $93 billion supplemental spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan. It would restrict the deployment of troops to Iraq unless they meet certain levels adequate manpower, equipment and training to succeed in combat.

Who exactly will decide whether "they meet certain levels"? George Bush, of course.

Isn't that the guy who illegally certified in writing to Congress that inspections weren't working and that Iraq was responsible for 9/11?

Isn't that the guy who illegally redefined torture as anything short of causing organ failure or death?

Isn't that the guy who illegally approved (more than 30 times!) warrantless wiretapping of thousands or millions of American citizens?

Chris, after 6 years of Bush, haven't you learned that if you let Bush or Cheney be the judge of anything, they will render a judgment that allows them to do whatever they want, even especially if it flagrantly violates the law?

The theory behind this plan is that it will significantly restrict the amount of available troops Bush can use to conduct the war, and then continue to gradually reduce the number of available troops even further over the next two years.

So "gradually... over the next two years" we may get back to the same 140,000 troops we had on January 10 when Bush began his latest escalation. That's "a very workable plan to significantly de-escalate the war by the middle of 2008"? You're joking, right?

The second part of your plan

is to keep up the pressure for a timeline through continued public activism / demonstrations via campaigns such as Set A Deadline

So what is the actual deadline at http://setadeadline.com? It sure isn't easy to find, but it appears to be one year (2 Friedman Units) from who knows when. Of course, we all know how elastic those Friedman Units are - they can be stretched to infinity.

Chris, if you want to end the war, there is only one way to do it: cut all funds except those needed to bring our troops home safely.

There are four bills to do this in ways that are politically acceptable: Lynn Woolsey's HR 508, Jim McGovern's HR 746, Jerry Nadler's HR 455, and Russ Feingold's S 448.

Democrats.com, AfterDowningStreet.org, Progressive Democrats of America, and United for Peace and Justice are all supporting these bills.

Chris, will you and the rest of the Netroots Elitists join us?