I do like Ted Kennedy, as unpopular as he seems to be with many. He’s principled, and he’s passionate. And his latest, preparing for the offensive against Bush’s “troop surge”, is yet another reason he repeatedly earns my respect. Specifically, introducing legislature that would “require congressional approval before force levels can be increased”.

“The American people sent a clear message in November that we must change course in Iraq and begin to withdraw our troops, not escalate their presence,” Kennedy said, referring to the November midterm elections in which Democrats wrested control of Congress from Republicans.

This seems to be the subtlety that is eluding Bush when it comes to the Democratic victory in Congress. He for some reason looks at it as though the Democrats and Republicans now have to work together to do the same thing the Republicans did by themselves, as though the fairly massive overhaul had no meaning behind it. I’ve written about this before, of course.

More brilliance:

Kennedy also said that the original mandate authorizing the Iraq war has expired because “the mission of our armed forces today in Iraq bears no resemblance whatever to the mission authorized by Congress.”

The Iraq War resolution “authorized a war to destroy weapons of mass destruction. But there were no WMDs to destroy. It authorized a war with Saddam Hussein. But today Saddam is no more. It authorized a war because Saddam was allied with al Qaeda. But there was no alliance,” Kennedy said.

Exactly. Ex-friggin-zactly. The war today is not the war we were sold in 2003. We were sold a war of prevention. A war that would stop Saddam from attacking us with the WMDs he could also give to Al Qaeda. No WMDs, no Saddam, no links. Thus, the war as were given it is long over. As there were no links, nor were there WMDs, the war was over as soon as Saddam was toppled.

Thus the president is no longer a “war president”, because the war has been over for a while now. The suggestion these days seems to be that because Congress authorized some kind of war in Iraq, as long as there is fighting in Iraq it’s the same thing. So his authority “in the time of war” is a sham. And it needs to be halted as soon as possible.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Democrats are going to have to make a choice when it comes to Iraq.

“They’re going to have to decide where they stand in terms of two issues: No. 1, do you want Iraq to succeed and, if so, what does that mean? And No. 2, do you believe in supporting the troops as you say and how do you express that support?” he said. “Those are questions that will be answered in the process of public debate and also in a lot of other considerations.”

Now me, I’d think the Republicans should have to answer that as well. Though I honestly think the “support the troops” is a bullshit issue anyway. Everyone supports the troops. Al Franken’s performed for them in Iraq time and time again. But the troops are only a part of the debate, the core is the policy and its failures. The troops are just doing their job, it’s the job we disagree with.