President Bush Vetoes Troop Funding

On Tuesday, May 1st President Bush followed through with his threats and vetoed the Iraq Accountability Act, better known as the "war spending" or "withdrawal" bill. In doing so he has further delayed funding for our troops.

The major point of conflict is the inclusion of a withdrawal timeline, which would have required withdrawal from Iraq to begin by October 1st of this year. Bush has said on several occasions that "members of the House and the Senate passed a bill that substitutes the opinions of politicians for the judgment of our military commanders." However, this is incorrect. They have in fact substituted Bush's opinion for the will of the American people, as evident by the fact that this congress was voted into office strongly based on their positions regarding the Iraq War. As for the judgment of our military commanders...

"The President vetoed our troops and the American people. His stubborn commitment to a failed strategy in Iraq is incomprehensible. He committed our great military to a failed strategy in violation of basic principles of war. His failure to mobilize the nation to defeat world wide Islamic extremism is tragic. We deserve more from our commander-in-chief and his administration." Maj. Gen. John Batiste Ret.

"This administration and the previously Republican-controlled legislature have been the most caustic agents against America's Armed Forces in memory. Less than a year ago, the Republicans imposed great hardship on the Army and Marine Corps by their failure to pass a necessary funding language. This time, the President of the United States is holding our Soldiers hostage to his ego. More than ever [it is] apparent [that] only the Army and the Marine Corps are at war -- alone, without their President's support." Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton Ret.

"With this veto, the president has doomed us to repeating a terrible history. President Bush's current position is hauntingly reminiscent of March 1968 in Vietnam. At that time, both the Secretary of Defense and the President had recognized that the war could not be won militarily--just as our military commanders in Iraq have acknowledged. But not wanting to be tainted with losing a war, President Johnson authorized a surge of 25,000 troops. At that point, there had been 24,000 U.S. troops killed in action. Five years later, when the withdrawal of US troops was complete, we had suffered 34,000 additional combat deaths." Lt. Gen. Robert Gard Ret.

"By vetoing this bill and failing to initiate an immediate and phased withdrawal, the President has effectively gone AWOL, deserting his duty post, leaving American forces with an impossible mission, suffering wholly unnecessary casualties." Lt. Gen. William E. Odem Ret.

Bush's second talking point is that "it makes no sense to tell the enemy when you plan to start withdrawing. All the terrorists would have to do is mark their calendars and gather their strength, and begin plotting how to overthrow the government and take control of the country of Iraq." This is one of the most terribly flawed arguments he's produced thus far.

"It makes no sense to tell the enemy when you plan to start withdrawing." President Bush | May 2, 2007

"I think it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn.” Gov. Bush | June 5, 1999

Well, now we're confused aren't we? Timetables made so much sense back then...what happened?

"All the terrorists would have to do is mark their calendars and gather their strength, and begin plotting how to overthrow the government and take control of the country of Iraq"

I hate to break it to you Mr. President, but "the terrorists" are "plotting to overthrow the government" now. But the situation is far more complicated. It's widely accepted that Iraq has fallen into civil war, with various sects fighting amongst themselves. Regardless of whether we stay or begin to withdraw, we have no place in the civil war of another country. And as for marking their calendars...do you think they won't notice when we do begin to withdraw? Do you suppose that somehow the insurgents will just not notice the void of thousands of US troops or the gradual decrease for that matter?

How ironic that Mr. Bush speaks of making sense.