Liberals' war plan: Add pork

To the editor:Gen. David Petraeus, the senior commander in Iraq, gave his first troop-surge progress assessment via teleconference to congressional members, and no Democrats bothered to attend. Had they attended, they would have learned that attacks are down 80 percent in Baghdad, U.S. casualties dropped 60 percent, and Iraqi security forces took operational control of another province. And recent polls showed just 26 percent of Iraqis believe they're in a civil war. Of course, liberal Democrats aren't looking for success stories.

While avoiding the brief, Democrats had ample time to undermine the troops and war effort by balking at the Pentagon's budget request and had the audacity to insert pork projects. While Democrats try to restrict how President Bush can spend the money his military needs to succeed, they attempted to load the measure with $20 billion in add-ons ranging from avocado and citrus grower aid to a drought-relief proposal. These relief measures may have merit, but not in a war budget.

Democrats have no plan for Iraq, as proven by the recent "Out of Iraq" caucus. During the post-caucus news conference, members listed seven conflicting troop withdrawal dates including "July of 1980" -- yes, 1980.

But what should we expect from liberals? They cry conspiracy over the firings of eight federal prosecutors in 2006 but forget Clinton and Reno fired 93 in an act of political housecleaning in 1993. They denounce the conditions at Walter Reed but delay funding to fix the problem.

CHAD CRAFT, Jackson