"If Congress does not approve the emergency funding for our troops by April the 15th, our men and women in uniform will face significant disruptions."

wArSHINtuHN--This is yet-another lie propagated by the White House. AP underscores it in an interesting article today, headlined "Real deadline for Iraq war money is May." That's right, the president is lying again. The Pentagon can shift-funds within their $1 trillion budget (overall, almost 4% of our GDP goes to the Pentagon, unhealthy for any developed nation) without any problems until late-May, early-June. It appears that it will be May, since the House is now on-vacation/in-recess until April 16th.

In fact, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, the Army has enough bookkeeping flexibility to pay for operations in Iraq well into July. Lawmakers and Capitol Hill staff aides view mid- to late May as the deadline for completing the war spending bill to avoid hardships. ...Such criticism was scarce when the GOP-controlled Congress was tardy in providing war dollars last year. At the time, there was a warning about "serious impacts" if the money was delayed further, but it came in a little-noticed letter from the White House budget office. Congress ignored the warning and went on vacation. (AP, 03.31.2007)

So, what's the difference now? If the White House can secure these funds immediately, they insure that the next administration still has to fight the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. They want to insure that we don't end a war under a GOP-administration again, just as it did in Vietnam. It's also to make sure that the war doesn't inflict the maximum-damage on the Bush administration and its legacy...what little there is.

George W. Bush--your president--wanted this additional-funding to pass around March 23rd. Not only isn't he going to get it in March, but this writer wagers it won't pass in April either. Why? The Democrats have everything to gain by letting it sit and wait until May, or even June. From maintaining a majority in Congress after 2008, to taking the White House, they seem poised to keep rewriting the bill until it's something the American public can stomach. Not passing it at all would do that job, and Bush's veto stands as a hollow-threat without any teeth or gain for its holder. You cannot make a signing-statement without a bill that's passed Congress, can you?

What more can the average American think except, "Don't pass the budget, not ever"? The majority feel this way, and as much as the mainstream media tries, it's not going to change the opinion of 2/3rd's of the public that the war in Iraq must end in 2007, 2008 at-the-latest. By tipping-his-hand and balking at a March, 2008 timetable for withdrawal, George W. Bush has told us everything we need to know. He doesn't want the war to end during his second-term, not while he's in-office.

For that reason alone, we must go that route, because anything this group of criminals doesn't want us to do is going to be the correct route. It will signal their end, and the ability to prosecute them--in or out-of-office. For those who wish impeachment, remember that it closes all-doors for further criminal prosecution. Bush's whining about passing this military appropriations bill is just-that, and a callous political-game that he has played with our lives and the lives of American troops all-along.


AP:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070331/ap_on_go_co/iraq_funding_deadline;_ylt=Ar05KzAKaEtlzlqoBDGd3iiWwvIE