Senate needs to enact real legislation "with some teeth" to end the war. Salazar's "Iraq Study Group" bill has no teeth.

Last week, John wrote a post that dissected the so-called compromise bill being offered on Iraq. The perception being pushed by the sponsors was that their bill would implement the December 2006 Iraq Study Group Report. John proved that, in fact, wasn't true. Instead, the bill kept our troops in Iraq indefinitely:

A bipartisan group of Senators has prepared legislation that they want to offer in the next few weeks that would keep US troops in Iraq indefinitely. What's worse, they're claiming that the legislation implements the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, when in fact, the legislation codifies George Bush's current failed policies in Iraq.

The misnamed "Iraq Study Group (ISG) Recommendations Implementation Act of 2007," is being offered by Senators Ken Salazar (D-CO), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Bob Bennett (R-UT), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Robert Casey (D-PA), John Sununu (R-NH) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). Probably the most offensive thing about the legislation is that it outright calls for the continuation of the status quo policy of keeping US troops in Iraq until the day that Iraq is 100% ready to stand on its own - namely, never.

You know the way the media works that anything with "moderates" pushing it must be good. This bill isn't -- and if people read the bill, actually read it, they'll know.

Fortunately, Majority Leader Harry Reid seems to have clued in according to today's Washington Post:

Reid said yesterday that he is unsure whether Salazar's bill will come to a vote. "What we do has to be more than something that feels good," he said. "It has to be something that calls for real change in our policy in Iraq."

Reid said he had held numerous talks with Salazar about how to toughen the bill and make it more relevant to current conditions. "Is it going to be something that has some teeth in it? If it is, certainly I'll put my arms around it. And I think most Democrats will," Reid said.

The Republicans in the Senate have never done anything to actually change the course in Iraq. They may be flocking to the Salazar bill because, as it's written now, they know it won't do anything either.

Harry Reid is right. It is time for real change. Senators, especially the Republicans, can't just talk about how bad the war has gotten. They need to put their words into action. It's way past time for that.