Iraq Debate Heats Up

June 20, 2006 — -- As Americans woke up this morning and learned of the tragic fates of two American servicemen in Iraq, they saw yet more evidence of the real war that continues there.

In the United States, the political war over which of the two major political parties will be able to use Iraq as an issue for its electoral advantage in the November midterm election continued to heat up today.

In his call for a change in strategy, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., declared the Republican plan for Iraq "lie and die."

Kerry, along with Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., plan to offer an amendment to the 2007 Defense Authorization bill this week that sets a deadline of July 1, 2007, for U.S. troops to be redeployed out of Iraq.

Highlighting Democratic division on this issue, the amendment comes one day after Democratic Sens. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Carl Levin of Michigan proposed a nonbinding resolution calling for the president to begin redeploying troops this year. It did not set any firm deadline for all troops to be out of Iraq.

Republicans -- who prefer to talk about Democratic division on Iraq than the more than 2,500 American lives lost or the majority of Americans who say the Iraq war was a mistake -- pounced.

"Democrats have been up until all hours searching for a proposal for a position on the war on terror that will unify their party," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "Maybe they should focus on one that will secure Iraq and our troops -- not just their electoral prospects."

Kerry, a former presidential candidate, was well-prepared for the Republican criticism and took to the morning radio airwaves on Don Imus' popular program to fight back.

"'Cut and run' -- that's their phrase," he said. "They found their three words. They love to do that. And they're going to try to make the elections in November a choice between 'cut and run' and 'stay the course.' That's not the choice."

"My plan is not 'cut and run,'" he said. "Their plan is 'lie and die.' And that's what they are doing. They lie to America, what's happening on the ground. They lie about why we're there. They lie about what's happening. And our plan is very simple. It's redeploy to win the war on terror. Change to succeed."