The blows are coming closer together

The budget battle over funding the Iraq war continues. The president now accepts benchmarks, the Vice president went unannounced to Iraq to tell the Parliament not to take a vacation. He said things are getting better while you could see his flak jacket under his shirt. As one of the TV pundits said, "maybe one of the benchmarks should be when a US official can make an announced visit to Iraq".

The Republicans ( the Presidents Party) in the senate introduced a bill that would cut off funding if benchmarks weren't met. It was defeated as not strong enough. The Democrats introduced a bill to cut off funding on a time table. It was to strong and went down in defeat.
So the battling words are "timetables" and "benchmarks". No body has quite defined them but they are the key words. The guys against timetables say we can't leave right away and the guys against benchmarks say, what happens if benchmarks are not met. Nobody, as yet, wants to define the terms to closely.

I still think there will be a bill for partial funding with some benchmarks and requiring the President to report back to Congress. Both sides have said they will have a bill by the end of May. Lots of meetings going on.

Retired Maj. General Batiste, who served in Iraq appeared in a TV ad to support a deadline for pulling out of Iraq.
Ad starts with a clip of the president saying that "I will always listen to commanders on the ground." Then cuts to the general "Mr president, you did not listen. You continue to follow a failed strategy." There was also a letter signed by 11 generals, most served in Iraq, saying get out. The military is starting to speak out.

At the same time republicans are visiting Iraq and reporting back on how much better things are getting. The argument is, if we get out there will be chaos, and the other side says if we stay there will be chaos. It reminds me of what my father once told me" if you have a choice between rich and happy and poor and happy, take rich and happy. So if you get out and get chaos and if you stay you get chaos, I would choose get out, you get chaos either way.

Wolfowitz still in trouble. Looks like there will be a deal. He will resign but with a clear name. The deal being that the US still gets to name the next president of the World Bank.

Gozales gets deeper in trouble. more information coming out that there was a lots of backdoor political intrigue to hire and fire State Attorney generals. He is losing support among republicans but still has strong support from the President. Congress is still going after Gonzales.

So the battle continues. The Bush presidency is under siege and will not get much accomplished in the next year and a half.