Prof. William A. Jacobson
Legal Insurrection
Monday, December 21, 2009
As part of his broad attack this weekend on opponents of the Democratic health care plans, Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) declared:
“The lowest of the low was the Republican vote against funding and supporting our troops in the field in a time of war. As a device to stall health care, they tried to stop the appropriation of funds for our soldiers. There is no excuse for that. From that there is no return. “
In May 2007, Whitehouse was only one of 14 Senators to vote against the Iraq war funding supplemental to support the troop surge, at a time our troops were fighting al-Qaeda in the field in a time of war. Whitehouse also was one of 10 co-sponsors of a bill to cut off funding for the troops in Iraq unless troop withdrawals started within 120 days.
Had Whitehouse succeeded in withdrawing funding from our troops in the field in 2007, the Iraq war would have been lost, the region likely would have fallen into widespread chaos and genocide, and we would be facing al-Qaeda control of large parts of Iraq.
Unlike Republicans, who were only trying to gain a short delay in the Democratic rush to pass the health care legislation before Christmas, Whitehouse actually wanted to starve the troops of resources.
Want to rethink the “lowest of the low” line, Senator?
Or should we just say, “Sheldon Whitehouse was against funding the troops in the field before he was for it.”
