Bush Will Veto The Will Of The American And Iraqi People

By Cernig

By 51-46, the Senate has backed a bill to provide funding for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan but would place limits on how long those occupations could continue. The House voted for the same thing yesterday. Bush has promised to veto the bill, which may be handed to the White House next Tuesday - the second anniversary of Bush's infamous "mission accomplished" photo-op aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Democrats say that the bill sets out conditions for "the beginning of a partial reduction of U.S. troops, leaving time for Iraqis to make the political compromises they promised to make months ago." But there is, as yet, no sign that the Iraqi government and parliament want to make those decisions, despite various high-level Bush officials, such as Zalmay Khalilzhad and Robert Gates, meeting with Iraqis in an attempt to get them moving.

Ten weeks into the security plan, even as U.S. lawmakers propose timelines for a U.S. troop withdrawal, there has been little or no progress in achieving three key political benchmarks set by the Bush administration: new laws governing the sharing of Iraq's oil resources and allowing many former members of the banned Baath Party to return to their jobs, and amendments to Iraq's constitution. As divisions widen, a bitter, prolonged legislative struggle is hindering prospects for political reconciliation.

"They are all up in the air," said Ahmed Chalabi, a secular Shiite who is chairman of Iraq's Supreme National Commission for De-Baathification. "They are certainly not going to be produced in any timetable that is acceptable within the context of the current political climate in the United States."

Other benchmarks such as provincial elections, a political agreement on dismantling militias and a program for reconciliation announced last July also have not moved forward, Iraqi officials said.

The vast majority of the Iraqi people want the US to leave their country. A majority of the American people agree with them. Which means that US troops continue to stay targets only in order to prop up an Iraqi government which has failed to make good on its promises and is unpopular with Iraqi voters - and an American administration which has likewise failed to make good on its promises and is unpopular with American voters.