Bush Lies, April attack on Iran!
Sat Mar 31, 2007 at 08:36:51 AM PDT
Think Progress Blogg has been reporting that President Bush has been hyping a phony April deadline on when the troops will run out of funding. This has easily been exposed by the Congressional Research Service’s recent report and brought to light publicly by Congressman Murtha.
It does raise the question though... what is so special about April that Bush would risk making another fallacious claim and further destroying his credibility? Lets take a look, beginning with the Think Progress blogg piece:
Excerpts:
Renewing his veto threat on Wednesday, President Bush told Congress "the clock is ticking for our troops in the field":
BUSH: Congress continues to pursue these [withdrawal] bills, and as they do, the clock is ticking for our troops in the field. Funding for our forces in Iraq will begin to run out in mid-April. Members of Congress need to stop making political statements, and start providing vital funds for our troops.
Meanwhile, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) and others have been arguing that Bush is wrong, and that funds won’t dry up until June, giving plenty of time for negotiations:
Murtha says he believes the April 15 date for funds running out is incorrect. Based on the inquiries he’s made, he said, the Pentagon will start running out of money at the beginning of June.
"We’ve never had a year where they didn’t give us bad information," said Murtha, who’s known for his contacts inside the military. "We’ve been asking people and we think it’ll be the end of May."
Now we know who’s right. A new report from the Congressional Research Service makes clear that Bush’s deadline is completely fabricated:
In a memo to the Senate Budget Committee dated Wednesday, the congressional analysts said the Army has enough money in its existing budget to fund operations and maintenance through the end of May — about $52.6 billion. If additional transfer authority is tapped, subject to Congress approving a reprogramming request, the Army would have enough funds to make it through nearly two additional months, or toward the end of July. Using all of its transfer authority, the Army could have as much as $60.1 billion available.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
http://websrvr80il.audiovideoweb.com...
So what else do we know that is significant about the month of April that might have a bearing on this situation? Well the Russian news agency RIA Novosti has published this:
"U.S. ready to strike Iran in early April - intelligence source -1"
3/30/2007
"MOSCOW, March 30 (RIA Novosti) - Russian intelligence has information that the U.S. Armed Forces have nearly completed preparations for a possible military operation against Iran, and will be ready to strike in early April, a security official said.
The source said the U.S. had already compiled a list of possible targets on Iranian territory and practiced the operation during recent exercises in the Persian Gulf.
"Russian intelligence has information that the U.S. Armed Forces stationed in the Persian Gulf have nearly completed preparations for a missile strike against Iranian territory," the source said.
American commanders will be ready to carry out the attack in early April, but it will be up to the country's political leadership to decide if and when to attack, the source said.
Official data says America's military presence in the region has reached the level of March 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq.
The U.S. has not excluded the military option in negotiations on Iran over its refusal to abandon its nuclear program. The UN Security Council passed a new resolution on Iran Saturday toughening economic sanctions against the country and accepting the possibility of a military solution to the crisis."
SNIP!
"A senior Russian security official cited military intelligence earlier as saying U.S. Armed Forces had recently intensified training for air and ground operations against Iran.
"The Pentagon has drafted a highly effective plan that will allow the Americans to bring Iran to its knees at minimal cost," the official said.
Russian Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov, vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Sciences, said last week the Pentagon was planning to deliver a massive air strike on Iran's military infrastructure in the near future.
"I have no doubt there will be an operation, or rather an aggressive action against Iran," Ivashov said, commenting on media reports about U.S. planned operation against Iran, codenamed Operation Bite."
http://en.rian.ru/...
So could it be that President Bush wants the funding for an expansion of the war in place before he throws the hammer down on Iran? Could it also be that he doesn’t want any time table or congressional direction on how those funds are to be spent so he can use them for the new assault?
Hold on to your hats folks... its looking like we are in for a rough ride ahead!
Permalink | 21 comments