By Senator Carl Levin - Lincoln's Example for Iraq - The Washington Post

Excerpt:
"In his only term in Congress, Abraham Lincoln was an ardent opponent of the Mexican War. He introduced a series of resolutions that challenged President James Polk to show the "spot" of American soil on which Mexicans had spilled American blood, and he voted for an amendment stating that the war was "unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President."

But when the question of funding for the troops fighting that war came, Lincoln voted their supplies without hesitation.

Sound familiar? President Bush recently vetoed a bill I helped draft because it would have required him to begin reducing U.S. force levels in Iraq within four months. In the wake of that veto, calls from those who want Congress to try to stop funding the war have grown louder.

Today, some of us are facing the same dilemma that Lincoln faced: Do you fund the troops fighting a war that you oppose?"

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