Stopping the surge
TED KENNEDY thinks George W. Bush is dead wrong on a troop surge for Iraq -- and while some other Democrats have reacted diffidently, he is determined to force the issue.
Today the Massachusetts senator will introduce legislation to prevent the president from increasing US troop levels in Iraq without specific authorization from Congress. And in a speech at the National Press Club one day before the president outlines his new Iraq plans to the nation, Kennedy will take aim at the idea of sending more troops.
"In the election, the American people made it very clear they wanted a change in direction," Kennedy said in an interview yesterday. "The president has been going in the wrong direction -- and we are going to do everything we can to get accountability."
Congress has to act now, Kennedy stresses, because if lawmakers wait, they could be put in the position of voting to cut off funding for additional troops after the administration has already sent them to Iraq -- a difficult vote for any elected official to take.
If that happens, "they will have effectively won the day," Kennedy said. "They will have gotten what they are looking for." Thus Kennedy says he will press for a vote on his legislation "at the earliest possible time."
Kennedy's bill wouldn't cut off funding for troops already in Iraq; rather, it would prohibit the administration from using federal funds to increase US troops beyond the levels there on Jan. 1 of this year without specific congressional approval.
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