With last night’s Senate vote, Congress finally showed its teeth on Iraq, says robert fox |
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It's a confrontation long foretold, the Democrat-dominated Congress versus President Bush and Vice-President Cheney on Iraq. But it really could be the beginning of the end of the Bush-Blair adventure. The bill to give extra funds, up to $124bn, for operations in Iraq has cleared both houses. To it, the Democrats have tacked the proviso that the troops should be brought home - and the timetable would be tight. The Democrats want the draw down to start on October 1, and for the bulk of US forces to be out by next summer.
With a fine dash of the theatrical, the bill is to be sent to the White House on May 1, the fourth anniversary of George W Bush's 'Mission Accomplished' speech from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln - the greatest piece of presidential hubris of the modern era. Bush and Cheney have blustered about |
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| The bill requiring Iraq pull-out went to Senate on the anniversary of Bush’s ‘mission accomplished’ speech |
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vetoing the whole thing - but that will only be a stopgap. They know they have to strike a deal with Congress on funding of the forces on operations - at war, in other words. Congress has decided not to cut Bush, Cheney and co any more slack on Iraq, and, from what I understand from military sources, on Afghanistan as well. The majority of legislators want most US forces out of there, too, and pretty soon. There can be no more surges or grand plans for military victory.
So where does that leave Tony Blair? Short answer: becalmed in mid-Atlantic without a paddle.
The legislators decided to get to grips with the war in Iraq despite eloquent pleas just before the debate from the man who should know most about the facts on the ground there, General David Petraeus, the coalition commander in Baghdad.
He did his best, pleading for more time to assess whether the 'surge' to bring American troop levels up to 170,000, to secure Baghdad and the Euphrates valley, has worked. The build-up won't be complete  |
