WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says Democrats are engaging in "dangerous" political theater if they try to limit U.S. military actions in Iraq.
Graham and a prominent Iraq war critic, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., appeared Sunday on NBC News' "Meet the Press."
The South Carolina Republican acknowledged polls show the public opposed to a troop surge in Iraq, but said "those polls also say that two out of three Americans do not want to cut off funding" for the troops.
Graham mocked Democratic efforts to oppose the war since winning a majority in Congress last November.
"The Democrat party is the dog that caught the car," he said. "What do you now?"
He added, "There's a reason there's only one commander-in-chief. So if you're not willing to cut off funding, which is the Congress's responsibility, then everything else really hampers Gen. (David) Petraeus (the U.S. commander in Iraq) ... Either stop (the troops) from going or give them the resources to do their job. Everything else is just political theater that's dangerous."
Murtha rejected criticism from Vice President Dick Cheney that he and other Democrats "will validate al-Qaida strategy" if they put restrictions on U.S. military actions in Iraq. "We're caught in a civil war," Murtha said.
Murtha said Democrats will try to force the military to follow its own policy against keeping troops in Iraq for more than a year's rotation.
