"President Bush is expected to announce a new Iraq war strategy this week and an increase in troop levels seems to be part of that package. Estimates about how many fresh troops will be sent to Iraq range from 8,000 (mostly to reinforce Baghdad) to as many as 40,000 men and women.

I agree with Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., who has called the surge the "absolute wrong strategy."

Wrong strategy or not, a new Iraq strategy is a thorny political problem for Democrats because Bush is still commander in chief. While Congress does have the power of the purse, cutting funds for troops in a field of battle is a repugnant thought.

But Congress has another power of the purse: It could raise taxes to pay for the war. Call it the tax surge.

Democrats "have ruled out defunding the war," writes Neil Howe for Facing Facts Quarterly, a publication of The Concord Coalition. "Indeed, many Democrats will support the president's recent request to expand the size of the Army and Marine Corps. Raising taxes is an option, though party leaders say they want to preserve the president's middle-class tax cuts."

Raising taxes should be more than an option during a war; it ought to be a patriotic act. Perhaps the president will even open the door to this option if he makes the case for national sacrifice as part of his new war strategy."

Get the Story:
Tax increase for war a patriotic act (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 1/7)

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