Spark It Up!!!: Roanoke Dot Com

This op-ed in the Roanoke Times? Wow!

A tangled Webb on Iraq

Timothy P. Buchanan
Buchanan lives in Buchanan.
Virginia's junior senator, Jim Webb, proposed a bill recently that would have mandated that troops serving in Iraq be given longer rest periods between deployments, up to three times the number of months that they serve in armed conflict. Webb said "increasing the dwell time" at home for U.S. troops was needed because "they are putting their lives at risk protecting us while we sit back and debate the war." He was partly right -- the troops are risking their lives for our security. But sadly, Webb and Senate Democrats have made their jobs more difficult and more dangerous.
Introduction of the Webb bill was a shrewd political move. No senator wants to go on record opposing downtime for the troops in Iraq. The trouble with Webb's bill is that it would have stripped President Bush of his constitutional authority as commander in chief, giving that power to the Senate -- and that was, after all, the real objective. Surprisingly little media coverage was given to the defeat of Webb's power-grab scheme.
July 15, Webb debated the Iraq War with South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham on NBC's "Meet the Press." Looking like a bloated tadpole ready to pop, Webb angrily accused Graham and congressional Republicans of "putting political words" in the mouths of the troops. He even denied that the war in Iraq is a war, choosing instead to characterize it as an "occupation." Webb and his extremist left-wing colleagues in the Senate continue to demand that Bush withdraw U.S. troops and surrender to Islamic terrorists.
Webb does not speak for veterans, and he does not speak for active-duty soldiers. No veteran, soldier, sailor, airman or Marine wants America to lose this war. Defeat is not a military strategy, but it is the Democratic political strategy. Webb and Democrats have offered no alternative to Bush's troop surge, no constructive advice and no leadership for America.(READ IT ALL)

I rarely say this about the Roanoke paper, but you should go read this op-ed. I can say this is one time I agree with everything written in the opinion. The democrats complain about strategy yet they cant offer one of their own. Surrender is not a strategy.