President To Accept Benchmarks
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Iraq, Military, Money, WarA bit too little, and a bit too late, but I guess it’s hard to continue to justify sending more money over there when the Iraqi Parliament was planning on going on a two month vacation and want us to leave.
WASHINGTON, May 10 � Hours before the House approved a plan on Thursday to finance the Iraq war only through midsummer, President Bush offered his first public concession to try to resolve the impasse on war spending, acknowledging rising pressure from his own party and the public.After a briefing at the Pentagon, Mr. Bush said he had instructed Joshua B. Bolten, the White House chief of staff, to reach “common ground� with lawmakers of both parties over setting firm goals, or benchmarks, to measure progress in Iraq. Mr. Bush had previously insisted that he wanted about $95 billion for the military with no strings attached.
“It makes sense to have benchmarks as a part of our discussion on how to go forward,� Mr. Bush said, even as he threatened to veto the House plan, approved on a 221-to-205 vote Thursday night, which would require him to seek approval in two months for the balance of the war money.
And yet…
Still, Congressional leaders say the plan may never reach his desk, because the Senate is likely to take a different approach.
And more…
Mr. Bush, who on Tuesday received a blunt assessment from Republican moderates about rising voter unrest over Iraq, acknowledged the public’s impatience with the war. But he said he could not allow political considerations like “the latest opinion poll, or how we can get our members elected� to drive his thinking.
No Mr. President you shouldn’t, but you also can’t go against the will of the people who elected you, and they are consistently saying they want out of this fiasco. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with reevaluating and understanding that we don’t want to spend our hard earned money to fund a hugely expensive war with wishful plans at best and no discernible exit strategy.
In the end, a Republican from Missouri says it best…
“The Republicans should not be saying the Democrats don’t support the troops, nor should the Democrats be calling Republicans warmongers,� said Representative Jo Ann Emerson, Republican of Missouri and one of the 11 moderates who met with Mr. Bush on Tuesday. “Politics have taken over, and our soldiers deserve better.�
Umm, wow, more of this please.
This entry was posted on Friday, May 11th, 2007 and is filed under Iraq, Military, Money, War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
