Pelosi/Reid Advise President Against More Troops

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wasted no time in attempting to alter the course of the President's foreign policy. In spite of her initial promises of bipartisanship and cooperation, Pelosi drafted a letter along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, urging the President to immediately lay plans for a troop withdrawal from Iraq.

Feeling their oats from their recent ascendancy to the dual thrones of Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader, the two Democrats also warned the President not to send more troops to Iraq as planned. This is in spite of bipartisan support for the phased-in increase in troop levels in order to stabilize Baghdad. Democrats Carl Levin and Joe Lieberman among others support the President's plan to increase troop levels. This plan also has the backing of key members of the President's own party, such as John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

Yet Pelosi has promises to keep and debts to pay. Extremists have a vested interest in her present position of power. They are the ones who elected her in San Francisco. They are the ones who finance her campaigns. And now that she is in a position to return the many favors extremists have performed on her behalf, she can hardly turn a deaf ear to their demands.

And they are demanding an immediate, unconditional troop withdrawal from Iraq.

It is no accident that Cindy Sheehan disrupted the Democrats' news conference on the day of the opening of the 110th Congress. She and her anti-war extremists wished to make a point. They are the ones who supported the Democrats' rise to power, and they expect major concessions in return. Sheehan and others like her will accept nothing less than a complete and immediate withdrawal, no matter what the consequences in the region.

Sheehan wished to remind the Democrats from whence comes their power.

Thus, Pelosi and Reid have forsaken their carefully crafted overtures of cooperation with the President in order to appease the ones backing them--the cut-and-run anti-war activists who represent the extreme leftwing of the Party. Instead of courageously putting country before politics as Levin and Lieberman have done, they cow-tow to some of the most subversive, yellow-bellied, America-hating vermin that exists in the nation.

At the confirmation hearing for Bush Secretary of Defense nominee Robert Gates, Senators grilled Gates extensively concerning his views on the present situation in Iraq. Gates repeatedly answered that a wide array of options would be considered and that he would only make up his mind after a careful consideration of the facts and consultation with the troops and their commanders on the ground.

This careful, reasoned approach was well-received by Senators on both sides of the aisle.

Not surprisingly, therefore, it is Gates who is recommending that the President increase troop levels. If the Senators who voted in favor of Gates, many of whom are Democrats, believe in the sincerity and wisdom of the plan outlined by the Secretary of Defense, then now is no time to change tactics simply because a recommendation has come forth that may not be everyone's cup of tea. The Bush-Gates plan for troop increases has some extensive support from both Democrats and Republicans. Pelosi and Reid are merely paying homage to the extremists who consistently vote for them.