The Daily Background

No link, rom an email sent to Senator Kennedy’s mailing list a few hours ago:

George Bush will speak to the nation tomorrow, and every indication is that he will announce an escalation of the war in Iraq. Such a military escalation would not strengthen our national security — instead it would further weaken it by enabling the Iraqis to avoid taking responsibility for their own future.

Thankfully, escalation is not President Bush’s decision to make. He must have the people’s consent.

[…]
I’m headed to the National Press Club right now, where I will announce legislation that will prevent any further escalation in Iraq until two important things happen: the president presents a plan for success and Congress approves it.

One misguided politician cannot simply decide to drop tens of thousands more troops into the middle of a civil war. As Speaker Pelosi said on Sunday, “If the president wants to add to this mission, he is going to have to justify it.”

Tell the president that we will not allow an escalation in Iraq without the people’s consent — support this legislation now:

http://www.tedkennedy.com/ourdecision

One key fact even George Bush cannot ignore: Congress never authorized what’s happening in Iraq now.

We’ll see what the details of this are a little later, but there are several different potential plans. Democrats won’t cut off funding for troops that are already in Iraq on their normal tour of duty, but there is one plan that would stop funding for new deployments, one for extended deployments, and accelerated deployments. Kennedy’s bill may be a combination of all three. We’ll see what the details are when he introduces it.

Update: Raw Story has more. Kennedy says “My bill will say that no additional troops can be sent and no additional dollars can be spent on such an escalation, unless and until Congress approves the President’s plan.”

Update: Video from the Senator’s YouTube account:

Filed under: Video, Iraq Related, Z-TDB Blog