WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
For an additional amount for `Iraq Freedom Fund', $155,600,000, to remain available for transfer until September 30, 2008: Provided, That the amount provided under this heading is designated as making appropriations for contingency operations directly related to the global war on terrorism, and other unanticipated defense-related operations, pursuant to section 402 of H. Con. Res. 376 (109th Congress), as made applicable to the House of Representatives by section 511(a)(4) of H. Res. 6 (110th Congress).
Did you find any loopholes?? Did you find any echoes of the AUMF? Have you ever read the bill? We have been discussing this Iraq supplemental for months and hardly a person has read it, and that includes members of congress
Congressman John Conyers (D-MI)
"Sit down, my son. We don't read most of the bills. Do you really know what would entail if we were to read every bill that we pass?"
Iraq Supplemental: Continue to Fund a Hopeless Situation Until A Date Uncertain
This bill as I read it, is not the End of the War in Iraq, it is an outline for Beginning of the War in Iraq. Because this bill at least has an aim: to hand over Iraqi security to the Iraqis and to withdraw US troops -- the outline of this bill would have made sense in 2003 (save for the lack of troops) but it makes NO SENSE for 2007.
Because there is no date certain for withdrawal, this bill is dependent on what the Iraqi government will do, not what the US intends to do and will do.
The timetable and benchmarks are very much what Bush laid out in his State of the Union. And they can't be met. And when they are not met, there will be more reasons to extend the war in Iraq. "We can't pull the rug out from under the Iraqi people," says Tony Snow. "Have more patience," says Bush.
Another of Bush's conditions will be met in this bill. When he said the Iraq war is a problem for the next president he meant it. The funds are until August 2008, when the Iraqi problem is inherited by the next administration. And this bill, in its weakness, transfers responsibility for the Iraq Debacle to the Democrats...
While acknowledging that the Commander in Chief is incompetent, that the war was based on lies, Congress considers supporting a bill that continues our engagement in a civil war that was illegal to begin with... and for which there is no foreseeable end.
We are almost at that Nixonian point where to bring the end to the war in Iraq legislation must be forged that allows the US to win with "dignity." When there is none.
The door is still open for an attack on Iran.
The door is still open, even if on the ground troops are withdrawn, for an expanded air war.
The coffers are open and the US troops are strained beyond their limit. Iraq, for those who still live, and for those who are not suffering in refugee encampments in other countries, becomes more unsafe and more violent in direct proportion to the surge of US troops. The civil war has grown in direct proportion to the duration of the US presence.
And all the billions marked for Iraq reconstruction have not gone to the Iraqi people but to companies like Halliburton, while Iraqis who still live now must manage in Baghdad with just one hour electricity per day.
After four years the OCCUPYING force can't get the Iraqi people more than one hour of electricity per day.
No potable water. Malnutrition rates for children under 6 doubled what they were during the time of Saddam. Civilian death toll in the hundred of thousands. Contracts for rebuilding the infrastructure of Iraq still not awarded to the Iraqi people. And now, in this bill a deal struck so that Iraqi oil will be managed by foreign, not Iraqi conglomerates.
This bill is a tragic mistake and a farce. But it's a good deal for the spinach growers of California.