The tussle between Bush and Democrats in Congress continues. Democrat legislators see a chance to rein in Bush administration on the question of money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pentagon has asked for $180 billion to keep the action going in these two countries in 2008.
Defense secretary Robert Gates has approached Congress to approve the budget. However, the Democratic lawmakers have made the usual taunts like a nagging wife that Bush has formed a habit of spending too much money. They also warned sending so many US troops abroad to fight is breaking the back of the army.
Congress will loosen purse strings a bit now and give some pocket money to Bush - in the form of a stop-gap bill - that will keep the war going in Iraq for few more weeks. This will give them time to mull over their future course of action. Democrats lack the adequate number of votes to overrule a presidential veto on any pullout proposal. They had tried once and failed in the past. Congress had passed the war funding bill with early withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but Bush used the veto against it.
Robert Gates is putting a lot of pressure on Congress to get things moving on the demand for more money. He has put the demand couched so cleverly that lawmakers would appear to be heartless towards soldiers fighting in Iraq if they dared to refuse. Gates has said the money is for the soldiers. They are doing a great job in tough conditions. The least we can do is to provide them whatever they need. The money, the administration is asking for, is for fulfilling the soldiers’ basic needs. How can anyone counter this kind of arguments?
Chipped in support for Gates, the Army chief of staff and former top US commander in Iraq Gen. George W. Casey Jr. has also warned Congress that the US army is dangerously stretched and that the wear and tear on equipment is rapid.
However, Gates has offered a sop too. He said the going is tough now but the moment things improve we will start pulling back troops and merely keep a small force to fight al-Qaeda and keep Iran away from interfering in Iraq.
But both Democrats and Republicans united on a non binding bill, passed by Senate, to push for greater speed in making Iraq a federal state with three separate autonomous regions for Shias, Sunnis and the Kurds. The US lawmakers had something at hand to needle Robert Gates. Democrats and Republicans asked Gates whether more could be done to hasten political progress in Iraq.
But finally when we balance things, Bush and his team seem to be on top and Democratic legislators still on the back foot.
