Democrat anti-war plans stall

The Los Angeles Times has the story:

House Democratic leaders offered a full-throated defense Tuesday night of their plans to link Iraq war spending with rigorous standards for resting, training and equipping combat troops, saying that they would hold President Bush accountable for failing to meet those readiness tests.

But after a fractious meeting of the House Democratic caucus, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Democratic members still have not united around the proposal.

More than a week after Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., detailed plans that he said would curtail deployments to Iraq, Pelosi and other Democratic leaders said the coming debate on war funding would be about forcing the administration to live up to existing military requirements. War funds would be redirected toward equipment, such as night-vision goggles, that some troops lack. Democrats would insist on giving combat troops a year off between deployments, and they could impose restrictions on Pentagon policies that extend combat tours.

Nobody is fooled by the noble language of "resting, training and equipping combat troops". This is an age-old political ploy to describe your objective with misleading language that no politician can stand against. An early example of this Democrat gamesmanship was changing "withdrawal" to "redeployment". We knew what was really happening then, and we know now.

I believe the reason the anti-war plans have stalled is that some Democrats are carefully weighing the ramifications of placing the wishes of anti-war hippies above the best interests of the country, which is to stabilize Iraq before leaving. Voters will remember which legislators believe it's right to reinforce tyrants' views that America can be defeated.