Iraq War Funding - Bush Pressuring Democrats

By: Stewart A. Alexander

Socialist Party USA - Nominee for U.S. Vice President,
and candidate for nomination by the Peace and Freedom Party

President Bush is attempting to pressure Democrats in Washington to give him $196 billion to continue the Iraq War. To enforce his position, the president is threatening mass layoffs of civilian employees at the Defense Department if Congress delays his war funding.

President Bush chose to direct his threats against the civilian employees even though the Democratic-controlled Congress has already approved $50 billion in supplemental war spending that will finance the Iraq occupation into early March of 2008.

The Democrats are now within one year of the 2008 General Election, and since the 2006 Mid-Term Election the Democrats have done nothing to fulfill the promises they made to the American people to bring our troops home. Instead the Democrats have given Bush more money to expand his war and brave soldiers continue to die in a needless war based on lies.

Since the war began in March of 2003, Congress has approved nearly $500 billion in military funding for the war. The waste of dollars pales in comparison to the more than 3,880 brave American women and men that have died to enrich the big oil interests, even without considering the terrible toll on Iraqis.

If the Democrats and Republicans give Bush the increased funding, the funds will continue to finance an occupation that is completely destroying Iraq for the benefit of a wealthy few in America and abroad. Mass suffering in Iraq means high oil prices and record oil company profits. Approximately 4 million Iraqi refugees have fled the war-torn nation. Unfortunately, more than one million Iraqis will never return home after becoming the victims of this senseless war.

During the early months of 2007, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid charged that President Bush was pursuing a failed strategy that is endangering American troops; now the Senate leader is asking the President to adjust the war strategy, but basically going along with each presidential demand for money to pursue the war. It appears that the Democrats have fallen back from their rhetorical position against the war, and their compromising will cost the lives of more troops. While top Democratic presidential candidates admit that troops will remain in Iraq well into the next president’s term, Democrats in Congress join with most Republicans in going along with the entire president’s funding demands to continue and expand the war.

Many Democrats and Republicans are now conceding that the U.S. will remain in Iraq for years and it appears that Bush is making more progress with the Democrats, rather than the Democrats making any progress to end the war.

The Peace and Freedom Party and the Socialist Party USA have opposed the war, even prior to the invasion of March 2003. Both socialist parties reject any additional war funding and any extension of timetables to bring American troops home.

The U.S. military has all the necessary funds to bring American troops home and to end the occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a shameful display of weakness of the supposed leading party in American politics, Democrats appear ready to cave in as President Bush threatens to lay off Defense Department employees in an effort to keep Americans tied to a war that is so vehemently opposed by the vast majority of Americans and the world.