House Rejects End to Afghan War in 93-321 Vote

Petraeus Slammed Proposal as 'Victory' for bin Laden

A 93-321 House vote today ended the Kucinich-Jones-Paul resolution calling for an end to the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan. The vote saw a massive majority of Republicans and a narrowing majority of Democrats approving the continuation of the conflict.

The vote was surely a contentious one, and that was made all the more clear when Gen. David Petraeus took it upon himself to directly insert himself in the political debate, insisting the resolution would give “victory” to Osama bin Laden.

But in the end, the House of Representatives voted, as was expected, hugely in favor of war. It was slightly closer than the 2010 version, yet it can’t be ignored that over 75% of the “representatives” still support the war when a solid 64% of American voters were shown in the most recent poll to be firmly against its continuation.

With high profile Republicans like Gov. Haley Barbour openly questioning the wisdom of the war, it seems clear that House Republicans’ failure to muster more than eight votes is a sign that they are already falling out of touch with the wishes of the public which just months ago put them back in the majority.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.