Congress Playing Politics with Troops Lives

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All right. The debate over the troop surge continues, and here`s the point tonight. The blood of our troops will be on the hands of Congress.

Here`s how I got there. Democratic Party leaders are proposing a new Bill which calls for bringing the troops home from Iraq by early next year, and then removing whatever troops remain by October 2008.

If the president doesn`t agree to this timeline, which he`s never agreed with timelines, then Congress will force him to deny the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan over $100 billion in necessary funds.

To those in Congress who say they`re against the war but support our troops, you`re lying if you vote for this Bill. You don`t support anyone or anything except your own selfish political interests.

Here`s what the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: No matter what, by March 2008, the redeployment begins.

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BECK: There`s no middle ground here. If you`re in favor of the war and think we need to win at all costs, great. If you`re anti-war no matter what the situation, even if you`re a crazy hippie, at least you`re consistent.

But then there`s that murky center. It is immoral to say that a war is worth fighting, and then not give it everything you`ve got. If you don`t, more of our soldiers and innocent Iraqis will be killed. The people who want to get out of Iraq -- the Nancy Pelosis and the John Murthas -- are acting like spineless jellyfish, and this spinelessness will leave our troops high and dry and at the mercy of our enemies.

The people that we are fighting in the Middle East can sense the weakness in us, and they will pounce on us. How do you think Saddam Hussein kept Iraq together without civil war? Fear. The people we are fighting against only understand fear, strength and intimidation.

There are really only three choices in Iraq. The first one, pull out all the troops today. Pull them out. Sure folks will be happy for a few weeks, until Iraq -- through the influence of Iran -- will turn into a radical Islamist state that will be hell bent on uniting the world to destroy the entire west.

Best case scenario for option No. 1. It is going to make Darfur look like Disney World.

Two, second option, fight this thing with everything we`ve got. Give our troops what they need. They`ve got enough troops? Great. Give them more troops. Stabilize Iraq and then hope and pray that democracy will flourish.

Or, three, do neither. Don`t do anything. Just deny our troops the funding. Watch our young men and women get slaughtered between now and October 2008, effectively turning Iraq into another Vietnam, which is what we promised each other we wouldn`t do.

This is not a political issue, but it`s being turned into one by our leaders in Congress. The people in Congress need to understand this is not about left or right. It`s not about Republicans and Democrats. Us, we the people, those of us living in the real world, we know this is about right or wrong, and in this case any shades of gray are incredibly dangerous.

Trying to please everybody and playing the middle ground on Iraq just so you can win an election is not just arrogant or misguided. To our brave soldiers it is a death sentence.

So here`s what I know tonight. You can`t have it both ways in Iraq. You can`t say that you support our troops and then proceed to tie their hands behind their backs. You fight to win a war, not an election.

Here`s what I don`t know. How do these people in Congress, Democrats and Republicans, who want to have it both ways, how do you sleep at night? How do you do it?

If your Bill goes through, I hope you can`t go to bed any single night without the images of body bags of our American soldiers coming off those planes. I hope they dance in your head every single night, because you will be just as responsible for their deaths as anyone who has ever strapped a bomb to their chest and screamed "Allah akbar."

Joining me now are Congressman Chris Van Hollen. He is a Democrat from Maryland and the head of the DCCC. And Duncan Hunter, he`s a Republican from California and presidential candidate.

Let me start with Mr. Van Hollen. You have been against the war from the beginning. Congratulations on being consistent, sir.

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND: Thank you.

BECK: Now tell me, how can you possibly be for this Bill and not just say pull our troops out now?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, Glenn, you began the segment by saying this was the latest disaster from Congress. I would just begin by pointing out that what we have, and I think you would agree, is many years of disaster from the Bush administration.

BECK: Let`s not make this about politics, sir. Let us talk about the war and not the past. Let`s take it from where we are.

VAN HOLLEN: I would like to do that, and what this package is, it`s very consistent with the independent and bipartisan Baker-Hamilton Commission recommendations, whose essential message was that it`s in the national security interests of the United States to ask the Iraqis to assume more responsibility for their future. And the United States should begin to assume less.

And this Bill calls for ensuring that our troops that we send there are ready, that they`re prepared and trained. And it requires the Iraqis to take on greater responsibility for their own future and do what the president has said they should do and what their own government has said they should do and begin to hold them accountable for their own future.

That`s in our national security interests. That`s in the interests of our soldiers, and that is the right way to go.

BECK: Duncan Hunter, isn`t this exactly what we promised we wouldn`t do? Isn`t this Congress playing politics with war and war-gaming this situation and not letting the generals fight it. The new general that Congress just approved didn`t say this is what he wanted.

He`s asking for what the president was trying to give him, and I`m not a -- I`m not an ally of how President Bush has fought this war. Isn`t this Vietnam all over again, sir?

REP. DUNCAN HUNTER ®, CALIFORNIA: You know, this is -- this is 232 Democrats being generals, and I`m going to -- I`m going to oppose this Bill. I`m going to fight it every inch on the floor because this is what I call the slow bleed. The idea that -- and let me tell you, Glenn, I`ve had a son who`s done two tours in Iraq as a Marine, the last one in Fallujah.

The idea that you can`t send a Marine unit over, because maybe one of their people hasn`t done enough time on the rifle range so you keep the entire unit back, absolutely disables our military, and it sends a signal to the bad guys, I think the first signal of retreat in the war against terror.

The real answer to this, the right way to leave Iraq, is standing up the Iraqi forces, which we`re doing every day. Stand up those 129 Iraqi battalions, rotate them as we`re doing in Baghdad, rotate them into the front. And when they hit their stride, and we`ve got all 129 battalions with some operational experience, we rotate out the Americans. That`s the right way to leave Iraq. Not with these deadlines which will be absolute disaster for our country.

BECK: Chris, let me go to you, and you please explain this Nancy Pelosi comment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PELOSI: I say to my colleagues, never confine your best work, your hopes, your dreams, the aspirations of the American people, to what will be signed by George W. Bush because that is too limiting a factor.

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BECK: This is not a game, Chris. You people in Washington, you make me sick on both sides of the aisle. This is not a game. This is -- this is not some -- what exactly are you trying to do? Get the president to veto this so then you can cut the funds?

You know, I don`t know if you know this, Chris, but these are American troops. These are not Republican troops. This is not a Republican war. This is an American war, American troops. Stop trying to win elections and making little points and support our troops!

VAN HOLLEN: Glenn, that`s exactly what we`re doing, and I think you know that. We`re all working...

BECK: No, sir, I don`t.

VAN HOLLEN: Well, we`re working together to support our troops, and we need to make sure, No. 1, they`re ready when they`re deployed and, No. 2, that that they`re treated with dignity and respect when they come home at places like Walter Reed.

BECK: Yes.

VAN HOLLEN: And that`s one of the reasons why this Bill...

BECK: What an -- what an interesting way to -- no, no, I can give it to you, sir.

VAN HOLLEN: Listen -- listen, that is -- we need to treat them with respect going and coming back. And we also need to make sure that we treat them right and the people of this country right and our national security interests right.

The fact of the matter is, a bipartisan independent commission, and you may disagree with the Hamilton-Baker position, but that`s...

BECK: No, no, sir. That`s exactly what the Bush -- Bush used the same thing when he said let`s up the troops.

VAN HOLLEN: No, no. Glenn...

BECK: It`s very interesting to me that you say we`ve got to support. You`ve loaded this Bill with anti-IED tanks. You`ve loaded it with more money than Bush has asked in Afghanistan, Walter Reed.

It`s an amazing thing, because now anybody who votes against this Bill, you people are going to make commercials saying they`re voting against our troops. They don`t want to fix Walter Reed. Interesting game.

VAN HOLLEN: Can I say something about that?

BECK: Yes.

VAN HOLLEN: Can I say something about Afghanistan? We did -- look, we took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan. The fact of the matter is, according to our intelligence committee now, the Taliban has been resurgent for more than a year, and al Qaeda is now coming back.

It is really outrageous that those who are responsible for the attacks on this country of September 11, 2001, have not been held accountable.

BECK: No, you`re exactly right.

VAN HOLLEN: We should be.

BECK: We`ve never fought a war on more than one front.

BECK: Duncan, I`m going to give you the last -- the last word.

HUNTER: Well, let me just tell you, Glenn, there`s a right way to leave Iraq, and that`s operationally rotating up the Iraqi battalion, standing them up, rotating out the American battalions. That`s the right way to leave Iraq.

This is a slow bleed, and the Democrats are hiding behind everything. They`re hiding behind a commission. They`re hiding behind talk about Walter Reed, which is not on the subject.

The one thing that they`re doing is they are trashing a mission that our American troops have been sent over to do and which most of the troops that are in country strongly support.

You know, America is over there right now with a mission to execute. We should stand behind them, not cut off their supplies, not cut off their training. This is a slow bleed.

BECK: Yes, yes. You win a war. You fight to win. Congressmen, thank you both very much, both of you.

VAN HOLLEN: Thank you.

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