Thursday, April 26, 2007

Don't it make ya proud?

From Captains Quarters :

The House rejected the message from General David Petraeus, the man the Senate sent just three months ago to command the American forces in Iraq, and voted for a supplemental spending bill that will require the start of an American withdrawal by October 1. It passed on the barest of majorities and has no hope of surviving a veto, but the Democrats insist that they will play this game of chicken all the way to its conclusion:

The House on Wednesday narrowly approved a $124 billion war spending bill that would require American troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq by Oct. 1, setting the stage for the first veto fight between President Bush and majority Democrats.

Only hours after Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander in Iraq, told lawmakers that he needed more time to gauge the effectiveness of a troop buildup there, the House voted 218 to 208 pass a measure that sought the removal of most combat forces by next spring. Mr. Bush has said unequivocally and repeatedly that he will veto it.

“This bill is a statement that Congress will no longer fund the war as it exists today,” said Representative Louise Slaughter, the New York Democrat who is chairwoman of the Rules Committee, as she opened the debate. Republicans accused Democrats of establishing a “date certain” for America’s defeat in Iraq.

“There will be no greater event to empower radical Islam than our retreat and defeat from Iraq,” said Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, leader of a conservative wing of House Republicans.

The Democrats want to send the bill to the White House on Monday, April 30th, one day before the fourth anniversary of his appearance on an aircraft carrier flying a banner that read, "Mission Accomplished". Never mind that the banner referred to the carrier group's mission; the Democrats want to use the bill to score a few more political points, on top of declaring defeat and funding some of their pet pork projects. They have even coordinated with outside groups to use the anniversary for television advertisements.

Well Generals Pelosi and Reid have spoken. I bet AlQaida and the mad mullahs are getting a real kick out of this. I espeically like the provision that would allow for a small number {how many?} of Americans to stay and protect American interests or fight some terrorists in some places. You betcha. Can you imagine being one of a handful of Americans left in Iraq when these people get done surrendering. Might as well put a bulls eye on those boys.

2 comments:

Habu said...

Yes, the Democrats are determined to weild all the power, OK. If it's a game of chicken they want then let them have it.

Teddy Roosevelt, once confronted with an equally determined Congress who refused to fund the Navy got a lesson when Teddy dispatched them on a cruise around the world, knowing that they could make the Phillipines but wouldn't have the money to return...without a new appropriation from Congress.

Well, Pres. Bush could let the funding cease but as Commander in Chief order the troops to remain in Iraq. If he's PR savvy enough it won't take too long for the public to realize that the soldiers need food and ammo, and with a coordinated military veterans and active duty families march on Congress I believe he can get the funding he needs.
The Wall Street Journal pointed out yesterday that the Democrats have now taken ownership of another US defeat, with the implications of this one being much much more dangerous than the Vietnam sellout which cost somewhere on the order of 4-5 million dead in Cambodia ,Laos,Vietnam and drowning boat people.
Wall Street Journal piece follows.

Harry's War

Habu said...

When President Teddy Roosevelt wanted to send the Navy’s "Great White Fleet" on a cruise around the world in 1907, as a show of U.S. naval supremacy, Congress considered the trip a saber-rattling waste of money and threatened to refuse to pay for the fuel needed. Did presidential power have a solution? Yes. Roosevelt spent the rest of the money he already had in the budget for fuel to send the fleet half way around the world, and then dared Congress to withhold the funds needed to bring it back. Roosevelt got the money

TR & Great White Fleet Funding