Jim Webb is one hell of a leader, and this time around, Repubicans are going to have a tough time claiming to care about the troops if they filibuster. This bill would give the troops equal recovery time to how long they’re at war. Otherwise, a soldier could finish up a 15 month tour in Iraq, change units and end up back there in 6 months. That’s what’s happening now. The stop loss policy was largely ignored for too many years, but come Wednesday (big day on CSPAN!) that could finally change. Secretary of Defense Gates was pre-empting this amendment on the talk shows this past Sunday, arguing against it. “The Price of Loyalty”…indeed.
Supposedly this guy was going to be an honest broker, but here he’s blocking for the sake of Lil’ Bush not having to end the war before he’s out of office. Here’s Webb’s one minute clip explaining the amendment.
Update: Here’s the news from today, no surprise – GOP opposes bill regulating combat tours