Bush Abandons the Troops, Again

President Bush, The Decider, will use his red-ink veto stamp on the Defense appropriation bill, stopping funding on everything because Iraq's government and a few queasy DC insiders have a few qualms that they might get sued, American style over what meager assets (oil revenue) Iraq has remaining. This is all about Saddam Hussein - still - and the USA's terrorist label hung around Iraq's neck. So, is Iraq's litigation status part of the new Decider Jury since the penultimate Decider just gave away a measure of sovereignty to a nation the US invaded and now occupies because the long arm of American jurisprudence may need to engage in the process?

“The new democratic government of Iraq, during this crucial period of reconstruction, cannot afford to have its funds entangled in such lawsuits in the United States,” Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman, said in a statement.

Mr. Stanzel said the president objects to a section in the National Defense Authorization Act that would permit plaintiffs’ lawyers to freeze Iraqi funds and expose Iraq to “massive liability in lawsuits concerning the misdeeds of the Saddam Hussein regime.” At least one pending lawsuit reportedly seeks $1 billion or more.

Mr. Stanzel said the White House would consult with Congressional leaders to fix the bill “as soon as possible upon Congress’s return in January.” White House aides said Iraqi government officials had called attention to what they saw as problems in the bill, which was approved amid the lawmakers’ mid-December rush to adjourn for the holidays.

Bush should just *heart* the Courts again
like he does Barney, especially the rollover Supremes, after they voted to give him the title, president, but he jilted them right after they put out. My scorecard for the last seven years is just a mess. Congressional Democrats are not going to be accused of adding clarity as they knelt before Bush and gave him everything in the US treasury that wasn't nailed down without requiring a GET OUT OF IRAQ deadline. But give the Democrats points for strenuously objecting to the vacillating Decider's last second veto.

"This bill is important to our men and women in uniform," Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. "It is unfortunate that the Administration failed to identify the concerns upon which this veto is based until after the bill had passed both houses on Congress and was sent to the president for signature. I am deeply disappointed that our troops and veterans may have to pay for their mistake and for the confusion and uncertainty caused by their snafu." Yeah, that's telling him Senator...

So, the decider world according to malware version 2007 Bush is:

• Troop pay raises? Bush -NO,

• Army expansion? Bush - NO,

• Missile defense shield placed in Europe? Bush - NO (Putin, Bush's Pooty-Poot, will most definitely take that belated Christmas gift)

• Increased Veterans benefits? Bush - NO

• Upgraded weapons systems? Bush - NO

And so, a capitulator's dream Congress in 2007 that pushed through the imperial Decider's wish list, shall be forced to do a legislative Groundhog day reprise beginning in 2008. Will Congress be smart enough to get timelines this time so there can be no more last minute mind melts?



There is no better vantage point than Glen Greenwald's perch looking at the ruins left after a bush presidency and examining the why of it all. The book is A Tragic Legacy: How a Good versus Evil mentality Destroyed the Bush Presidency.