Bush wins Iraq Showdown

After months of telling the nation that Congress will present the President with an Iraqi war funding bill that will contain provisions for bringing the troops back home as soon as possible, and possibly within one year, the Democrats finally gave in. They have now promised to hand the President a bill that will contain no provisions for troop withdrawals. It took one presidential veto and the threat of more to come to convince Congress that the President was serious about getting the funding he required (almost $100 billion) for the war in Iraq with no strings attached.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she was "not likely to vote for something that does not have a timetable" for withdrawing troops from the war that has killed at least 3,420 U.S. soldiers and wounded more than 34,000. However there are enough votes in the House to pass the spending bill without a timetable. The political reality is that there are not enough votes in Congress to overcome a presidential veto, therefore the Democrats cannot force the spending bill on the President.

"The president has made it very clear he's not going to sign timelines (for withdrawing troops). We can't pass timelines over his veto," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland told reporters.

"Democrats have finally conceded defeat in their effort to include mandatory surrender dates in a funding bill for the troops," said House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio.

Presidential candidate John Edwards spoke out about the Democratic failure to convince the President to accept timetables.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nShihF9lfA]

News Hour with Jim Lehrer took a look at the real costs of the war in Iraq and came up with a figure of about $2 trillion.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr14ir4vlAI]

Here are the pictures of 15 soldiers who lost their lives in the war.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI6Ggg80Em4]

Comments

[V.Ananda Murti]

George W. Bush has demonstrated that a determined and vicious American president can become the most powerful dictator in the world by hoodwinking the congress with lies and browbeating it with threats. His actions have sown the seeds for an American presidentship evolving into a mighty dictatorship.

American constitution grants excessive powers to the office of president. American should people realize the seriousness of this situation and amend their constitution to clip the wings of the president before it is too late.

[gasdocpol]

SHAME ON THOSE DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS ! THEY ARE GOING TO LET THEMSELVES GET BEAT BY ALFRED E. NEWMAN.

IRONICALLY THEY ARE DOING IT FOR POLITICAL REASONS JUST LIKE THEY DID WHEN THEY SUPPORTED BUSH GETTING US INTO THE MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE.

THIS IS GOING TO COME BACK AND HAUNT THEM TOO.