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Senate Democrats and Iraq Vets Blast Bush
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ShareMarch 29, 2007 1:37 PM
ABC News' Jake Tapper Reports: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., appeared alongside two anti-war Iraq war veterans, Jon Soltz and Jonathon Powers of Votevets.org, as well as the No. 4 Senate leader, Senate Majority Conference Secretary, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., to blast the president's approach to the Iraq supplemental spending bill that passed this morning in the Senate.
They did so by emphasizing the spending provisions in the bill to help veterans, de-emphasizing the provisions that call for U.S. troop withdrawal.
"The ball's in the president's court," Reid said.
Jon Soltz, an Iraq war veteran who served as a Captain during Operation Iraqi Freedom deploying logistics convoys with the 1st Armored Division, was especially critical, saying, "If the president vetoes this bill, never in the history of war would there be a more blatant example of a commander-in-chief undermining the troops. The money in this bill is there to support traumatic brain injury, it's there to support post-traumatic stress disorder, it's there to fix the mess at Walter Reed. And if he doesn't sign this bill, he's undermining the troops," said Soltz.
Seconded Reid, "I don't know if you can find in history any time that a president has done more to undermine troops in the field than this. If the president vetoes this bill, it is an asterisk in history, he sets the record for undermining the troops more than any president in history."
Asked by ABC News about Defense Secretary Roberts Gates' report that troops will start running out of money by April 15, Reid said, "Whose fault is that? Whose fault is that? We have waited for months and months and months to get this appropriations bill" sent from the White House. Reid said Gates should ask the president, "Why did you wait so long to send that down there?"
ABC News followed up: What does Reid say to troops who say they don't care whose fault it is, they're just worried about funding running out?
"The president knows as commander-in-chief what his responsibilities are," Reid said. "And he should have sent us this bill. We're doing the very, very best we can. We got this bill out of here in near record time."
"It's clear that the troops support Senator Reid's position," Soltz said. "I think that it's clear the American public supports Senator Reid's position. I think it's clear a bipartisan majority in Congress supports Senator Reid's position. And the only person that has a delusional idea about supporting the troops and having America on the wrong policy that this country doesn't want to go towards in Iraq is the president of the United States. The fault lies with him."
Of the provisions calling for the beginning of US combat troop redeployment within four months of enactment, with a non-binding goal of all troops out by March 31, 2008, Reid said, "What is in this bill regarding Iraq is what the American people said they wanted on Nov. 7 and what they have said in a more amplified manner since then. We have given the American people what they want. It's up to the president. And he should, as Nancy Pelosi said, just calm down. There's a new Congress -- work with us."
Murray, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee whose World War II vet father was in a wheelchair for most of his life, slammed the president for not including more funding for veterans in his original supplemental appropriations request.
"What the president left out was the true cost of war, that he has left out since this war began four years ago," Murray said. "And that is making sure that the men and women who served us honorably when they come home are taken care of. We challenge the president to not veto a bill that finally takes care of those men and women who have worked so hard for us."
"This bill says we're not going to forget you," Murray said. "Democrats can now say strongly and proudly we are the party that supports our troops, and we challenge the president to do the same."
Reid and Murray shared stories about their trip to Walter Reed yesterday, about wounded soldiers and veterans whose traumatic brain injuries were not diagnosed for years. Reid said he has named conferees to work with the House conferees on coming up with a compromise to get to the President's desk as soon as possible. He provided no specific timeline.
March 29, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (7)
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Over 3200 of ours dead...over 50,000 wounded...who knows how many of ours will suffer in other ways!!!...Over 650,000 Iraq's killed!! who knows how many more are wounded...and how many more are suffering!!!!
"....Military maddness is Killing my country...." Those are words to an once important song.
Please lets STOP the klling..we did it once WE CAN DO IT AGAIN!!!!
Posted by: Michael Alcantar | Mar 29, 2007 3:21:36 PM
I'm proud of the House and Senate for standing up to Bush and doing what they said they'd do last November. I commend them for keeping their word and doing far more to find an end to this madness than Bush seems capable of doing.
Posted by: Heidi L | Mar 29, 2007 5:02:45 PM
The die has been cast, the dog has been hung, the bell has been poured as a strange looking Russian walks around mumbling some kind of enigmatic gibberish and the subtitles flash by too quickly to give us a clue. But not to worry, as the worm has turned and, yes, what was only a pipe dream of cryptic scrawls rendered by the nubbins of a discarded Ticonderoga #2 pencil in some smoke filled opium den of iniquity is now poised to be a reality. The plumbing gentlemen of the Democratic party will commence repair of the broken GOP pipe, with final sealing and inspection instigated 2008. The next step? The realization of a dream as seen through a smoky dark glass of fettered ambitions. So who gets the first flush? Is this the first blush (flush?) of spring? Oh plumbing fellows, mister plumbing gentlemen, purveyor of plumbing apparatus chaps, could this be the end of little Georgie?
Posted by: Carl Gordon | Mar 29, 2007 5:29:15 PM
WAR IS HELL...........FOR THOSE WHO FOUGHT FOR IT.....LIFE HAS A SPECIAL FLAVOR THAT MR BUSH OR MR CHENEY WILL NEVER KNOW.
Posted by: buddy | Mar 29, 2007 7:30:48 PM
Are you people nuts? Everyday we hear how many innocent Iraqs are killed. Do we hear how many of the terrorists killing these people are killed? No. Get a grip, we are fighting a war for our freedoms. Many have fought for our freedoms and your right to bash the US anytime you wish. Everyone should be backing this administration on the good job it is doing and the troops out there fighting for the freedoms we have.
Posted by: Karen Hunn | Mar 31, 2007 1:15:15 AM
With as much evidence as has piled up against the Bush administration of constitutional laws that they have broken as well as war crimes and govenrnmental corruption and fraud, I'm left wondering how he has made it this far without being impeached? Bill Clinton was impeached for far lesser charges. I also commend anything someone does to help stop the insanity going on in the middle-east,yet with the Democrats having as much power as they do after the last elections,why haven't they done anything about getting the impeachment process going? What are they afraid of
Posted by: chris mills | Apr 1, 2007 6:27:00 PM
Congress's threat to stop funding, and passage of a bill setting a deadline for withdrawal has given the President more political leverage than he could ever have created himself. He and his Secretary of State can now tell Iraqi officials and other middle eastern leaders that there is a real limit on American patience with this war. If they do not want the middle east to devolve into civil war they must act aggressively to create stability and peace in the region. If not in 18 months, then once the next election is over, the US will withdraw so they better act fast.
Congress should provide funding on a 3 month basis, with a requirement that the administration report back on progress, with sworn testimony from high ranking officials and from the pentagon. This supports the troops, hold the Bush Administration accountable for accurate reporting, and lets the public know that an end is in sight. This public pressure has the added benefit of telling the entire middle east, that the problem will be theirs in the near future, so start taking responsibility for your own neighborhood. The congress should not give the administration another years worth of funds to make things worse.
Posted by: Grey Scribe | Apr 2, 2007 4:48:35 PM
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