Iraq Resolution: The Irony of Symbolic Politics

Unfortunately, Republican Senator John Warner's non-binding resolution, although well intended, will do nothing to stop a planned troop increase in Iraq. Everyone knows just how stubborn President Bush can be when he has made a decision, and he is extremely unlikely to cave in to political pressure, even if it comes from within his own party. The resolution is actually a bipartisan compromise that is intended to gauge support for any future Congressional act withholding the funding necessary to deploy additional troops to Baghdad and Al Anbar province. The planned operation has been referred to as both a troop 'surge' and as an escalation of the war, but the irony is troop levels will be no more than they were at its highest point of this war. Therefore this 'surge' is merely a symbolic gesture on the part of the Bush Administration. If you confront a symbolic shift in tactics with a symbolic resolution, whom do you believe will win out? Nobody in Iraq. Get Real U.S. Congress, use the power of the purse and pass something with teeth!