Wu: "Immediate redeployment of our troops from Iraq"

Last week made it official, although it's been unofficially true for some time:

The Bush Administration and congressional Republicans don't have a military or diplomatic policy for Iraq. They only have an electoral policy. ABC News didn't even feel the need to pretend: They headlined their coverage of the artificial "debate" organized by the House GOP "House passes election-year Iraq resolution."

It was an election year PR stunt, a lame attempt to reframe a failed war leaving a failed state in its wake, nothing more. Iraq can collapse into a pile of bloody rubble as long as the GOP gets to keep its gerrymandered congressional majority.

I'm happy to report, though, that not all representatives used the occasion to dodge responsibility and avoid the truth. Oregon 1st's own David Wu spoke against the empty tub-thumping of the "staying the course" crowd:

A lesson I've learned in life is you finish what you start. This Administration took us off-track from the war on terror and chose the war in Iraq. The torch of the war on terror should, and shall be, passed to future generations, but the war in Iraq was started by this Administration and should be finished by this Administration.

This Administration decided to launch the Iraq war based on, at best, shaky evidence. Until that time, this country had historically set a high threshold in its decisions to go to war. We have done so because outcomes are sometimes uncertain, and the cost in human lives is frequently high.

We who question this Administration's decisions have faced the charge that to be candid about this war would upset military morale or even be unpatriotic. Now is the time for this President to be honest and forthright with the American people about his ill-conceived war. In candor, the Administration should say to the American people that no matter what course we choose now, the future in Iraq will be bloody and costly.

I have listened to our generals about their view of the future. General Casey has personally said to me that he needs until the summer of 2007 to fully train Iraqi forces. I am willing to allow General Casey the time to complete this task, but we should begin an immediate redeployment of troops.

Wu is no latecomer to the ranks of war critics, someone reading public disapproval with Bush and the Iraq war in the polls and trying to milk it. He voted against the original Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against Iraq which Bush now claims gives him nearly unlimited powers in the name of national security; and he's signed on as co-sponsor of HR 635, calling for a Select Committee to investigate possible impeachable offenses in connection with Bush's case for the Iraq War.

Proud to have him representing me.

Thanks to The Skirt for the heads-up.