Congress belongs in the fight

Re “A different way forward,” editorial, Jan 22

I was stunned to read your view that “any attempt by Congress to meddle in military strategy should be rejected.” The Senate’s resolution is hardly meddling. The Senate is expressing the awful realization held by most Americans that President Bush has no Iraq strategy. What do you expect Americans to do -- stand by and do nothing as Bush runs our ship of state aground in a sea of blood and oil?

CONSTANCE MCKEE

Woodside, Calif.

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The nonbinding resolution proposed by Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) is an important first step toward shifting Iraq policy, but the “good cop, bad cop” frame in this editorial misses the point. The time when we could rely on the president to be accountable to milestones in Iraq is long gone. Congress has the power to shape military policy and must exercise it to rein in the administration’s debacle in Iraq.

Since 1970, members of Congress from both parties have voted several times to limit funding and troop deployments in such places as Iraq, Haiti, Vietnam, Colombia and Nicaragua. The new Congress was not elected simply to express disapproval of the administration’s foreign policy. Americans gave a mandate for a check on the president’s power that has been missing for six years.

ERIN SIKORSKY-STEWART

Political director

Peace Action West

Los Angeles