Dems push Iraq funding bill with withdrawal timetable; Bush threatens veto

[ElvisL1ves]

I’d say it implies that there is no contingency plan, only that Bush needed to say something to make the tough questions stop.

[plnnr]

“I had a plan that didn’t work out as I had planned. I have, therefore, come up with a contingency plan. No, I can’t tell you what the contingency plan is, because then you’d notice that the plan I orginally put forth isn’t working.”

Mysterious, indeed, are the ways of the Man from Crawford.

[Squink]

@ElvisL1ves

And every day the list of names on the next Wall gets longer.

Nope, they’ve run out of space:

Congress has run out of space on a memorial created last year to honor all the U.S. service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a grim sign of the times, the “Wall of the Fallen,” set up by House Republican leaders in June, is almost full. The mounting death toll from Iraq has forced House staffers to study how to reconfigure the display in the lobby of the Rayburn Building – the largest office building for members of Congress – to squeeze in more names.

According to the Defense Department, 3,736 U.S. service members had died in the two wars by the end of April. New names are added to the display every few months, but none have been added since November.

They gotta get a new wall.

[ElvisL1ves]

Remarkably, the Davis delegation may have actually gotten through to him:

President Bush said today he accepts the idea of including benchmarks for progress in Iraq as part of an emergency war spending bill…“One message I have heard from people from both parties is that the idea of benchmarks makes sense. And I agree. It makes sense to have benchmarks as a part of our discussion on how to go forward. And so I’ve empowered Josh Bolten to find common ground on benchmarks. And he will continue to have dialogue with both Republicans and Democrats”

Not much, considering the vituperation that preceded it, but it’s still a desperately-needed sign of hope.

[XT]

I’m actually shocked. Bush is (maybe) willing to bend a bit? I’ll believe it when I see it…

-XT

[elucidator]

Of course, XT, such benchmarks must entail a certain degree of flexibility, in order to comport with the facts “on the ground”. Necessarily, whether or not those benchmarks have been fully met is a decision best made by a person most experienced in decision making, who has all the facts at his fingertips, as well as confidential and classified information that cannot be fully divulged, for reasons of national security. A “decider guy”. I have every confidence that The Leader stands ready to assume this extra burden, on behalf of a grateful nation. Two nations, actually. Well, one nation and an armed clusterfuck.

[Merijeek]

@ElvisL1ves

I’d say it implies that there is no contingency plan, only that Bush needed to say something to make the tough questions stop.

Why would he need a contingency plan? We’re winning!

-Joe

[Squink]

@elucidator

Of course, XT, such benchmarks must entail a certain degree of flexibility, in order to comport with the facts “on the ground”.

Yes, I saw Bush on the TV tonight, and he seemed to be saying that he would only accept benchmarks that were without consequence. That is, if the Iraqis fail to meet them, the president still gets to carry on his war without end. That’s pretty damned flexible!

[BrainGlutton]

The House just passed another funding bill. Bush is likely to veto.

[BrainGlutton]

Well, it looks like the Dems are gonna cave.

WASHINGTON — Flinching in the face of a veto threat, Democratic congressional leaders neared agreement with the Bush administration Tuesday on legislation to pay for the Iraq war without setting a timeline for troop withdrawal.

Several officials said the emerging compromise bill would cost about $120 billion, including as much as $8 billion for Democratic domestic priorities — originally resisted by the White House — such as disaster relief for Hurricane Katrina victims and farmers hurt by drought.

<snip>

Despite the concession, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters that the legislation would be the first war-funding bill sent to Bush since the U.S. invasion of Iraq “where he won’t get a blank check.”

Reid and other Democrats pointed to a provision that would set standards for the Iraqi government in developing a more democratic society. U.S. reconstruction aid would be conditioned on progress toward meeting the goals, but Bush would have authority to order the money to be spent regardless of how the government in Baghdad performed.

:rolleyes: That’s a blank check, Harry.

[RTFirefly]

Fuck fuck fuck fuckity fuck.

Shitfuck.

[marshmallow]

Yeah, I’ve been contacting my Rep/Senator and Pelosi and giving them hell. Not that it’ll help, of course, but it was really fun to vent. If they’re punting this down the road in the hope these war mongers are going to jump ship on Bush then they’re as delusional as Wolfowitz and the rest of the neo-cons.

I bet Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, KBR, Blackwater, et al. are pleased as punch. AKA the real Dem base.

[John_Mace]

Maybe they’ll be more successful when they try again in Sept.

[XT]

Disappointing…but unsurprising. I didn’t really think it was going to fly. But look on the bright side…the Dems are going to get $8 billion to play with for pork and such as a compromise. Thats better than a kick in the nuts any day…

-XT

[marshmallow]

@John Mace

Maybe they’ll be more successful when they try again in Sept.

Yeah, they tried really hard this time around – one veto and they piss their pants and then give Bush everything he wanted. And do you HONESTLY think ~30 Republicans and ~15 or whatever ‘moderate’ Dems are suddenly going to switch sides to stand up to Bush this fall? I think that’s craziness. Sure, they’ll pick up some people in threatened districts but the total needed is far too steep.

I hope you’re right, of course.

Otherwise, I’m starting to think the only way anything is going to change is a mass, violent uprising. We need to put a million people with torches at the foot of Capitol Hill. The political machinery is simply too corrupt for the will of the people to be enacted by normal means.

[BrainGlutton]

Meanwhile, the WH is now planning to nearly double the troop presence in Iraq by Christmas.

[marshmallow]

Don’t forget the 14 enduring bases and the Disneyland Embassy. We’re in for the long haul.

You know, I’m sorta surprised the Green Zone is still holding up so well. With the thousands upon thousands of mortars and rockets in Iraq I’d figure by now it’d just be a series of craters. We must be doing a heckuva job!..

[elucidator]

It is what it is, the votes just weren’t there, not enough Pubbies have peeled away. And there are reports afloat that a further escalation of combat troops into Baghdad is quietly underway…http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/68149.html

…The Bush administration is quietly on track to nearly double the number of combat troops in Iraq this year, an analysis of Pentagon deployment orders showed Monday.

When additional support troops are included in this second troop “surge,” the total number of U.S. troops in Iraq could increase from 162,000 now to more than 200,000 – a record high number – by the end of the year…

Which means, of course, that the planning and logistics for this have probably, almost certainly, been underway for some time. He just doesn’t care. His own people have begged and beseeched, he brushes them off. Even makes lame jokes about how people “don’t agree” with him, and “criticize” him. Now there is a genius for euphemism!

I think he’s playing a short term game, he figures he doesn’t have to last till the end of his term, his brilliant straregery is just about to bear fruit, the skies will begin to rain ponies soon, very soon, there are hopeful signs! There aren’t as many people left to kill…uh, violence is declining! The Iraqi Parliament is studying the formation of a committee to consider drafting a proposal, the very instant they get back from hiding out, er…a long awaited and much deserved vacation!

And on the Day of Jubilee, a repentant nation will mournfully beg his forgiveness, that we ever doubted the vision and courage of The Leader. Reid will probably blow his brains out, Pelosi will enter a convent. And the Shia, Kurds, and Sunni will only argue over who gets to have the biggest US bases. Me, I won’t know whether to paint my dick blue or go bowling.

[BrainGlutton]

@marshmallow

Don’t forget the 14 enduring bases and the Disneyland Embassy. We’re in for the long haul.

Are they still planning to build those bases? I haven’t heard anything about them since 2004 and I can’t seem to find anything by googling.

[elucidator]

Bases? Bases? We don’t need no steeenking BASES!