VMI supports drafting plan for
pull-out from Iraq

By John Allgood

Cadets at Virginia Military Institute generally support the Senate’s call for President Bush to outline his plan for “the successful completion of the mission” in Iraq, according to a VMI professor of international relations.

VMI cadets are very thoughtful about these policy issues because they realize the impact they have on their lives, said Prof. Pat Mayerchek.

While the VMI community may scrutinize Bush’s decisions, Mayerchek said that they fully support the troops. Five current cadets and alumni of VMI have lost their lives as soldiers in the current war in Iraq.

US military is training Iraqi soldiers to gradually take over

peace keeping duties. AP Photo

On Tuesday, the Senate rejected a Democratic call for a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, but adopted a measure which urged Bush to clearly reveal his strategy for victory.

Democrats were responding to public opinion that has swung against the way the Bush administration is pursuing the Iraq war, said Mayerchek. Republicans in Congress are showing concern too, he said.

The overall measure, adopted 98-0, challenges the president in several ways despite a threatened veto. Besides demanding an outline for winning the war, the measure would restrict techniques used to interrogate terrorism suspects, ban their “inhuman” treatment and call for the administration to provide lawmakers with quarterly reports on the status of operations in Iraq.

Bush, who was traveling in Japan when the measure was adopted, said he was happy to keep Congress informed about progress in Iraq.   

“The Senate did ask that we report on progress being made in Iraq, which we’re more than willing to do,” Bush said during a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. “That’s to be expected. That’s what the Congress expects. They expect us to keep them abreast of the plan that is going to work.”

The administration has threatened a veto over a provision that imposes a blanket prohibition on the use of “cruel, inhuman and degrading” treatment of terrorism suspects in U.S. custody.

The bill did have positives for the president, including support for the military tribunals Bush has set up to try detainees at the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. However, the Senate checked that too with a clause letting the inmates appeal to a federal court their designation as enemy combatants and their sentences.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told the Washington Post the outcome was “a vote of no confidence on the president’s policies in Iraq.” Republicans “acknowledged that there need to be changes made,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., rebutted Reid’s remarks.

He told the Washington Post the measure was “an absolute repudiation of the cut-and-run strategy put forward by the Democrats.” 

The legislation’s fate is uncertain. A House bill that sets Pentagon policy and authorizes spending doesn’t include the Iraq language or any of the provisions on the detention, interrogation or prosecution of terrorism suspects.

Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.

Lead supervisor:      Prof. Claudette Artwick

Reporting supervisor: Prof. Doug Cumming

Editing supervisor:  Prof. Pamela Luecke

Technical supervisor:  Michael Todd