Pelosi: No Blank Check For Bush In Iraq

CBS News Exclusive: New Speaker Hints That Congress Will Deny Funding

(CBS/AP)  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said newly empowered Democrats will not give President Bush a blank check to wage war in Iraq, hinting they could deny funding if he seeks additional troops.

"If the president chooses to escalate the war, in his budget request, we want to see a distinction between what is there to support the troops who are there now," she said in an exclusive interview on Face The Nation.

"The American people and the Congress support those troops. We will not abandon them. But if the president wants to add to this mission, he is going to have to justify it and this is new for him because up until now the Republican Congress has given him a blank check with no oversight, no standards, no conditions," said Pelosi, D-Calif.

Her comments came as Mr. Bush worked to finish his new war plan that could send as many as 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq and provide more money for jobs and reconstruction programs.

Mr. Bush is expected to announce his plan as early as Wednesday.

When asked about the possibility of cutting off funds, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer declined to say whether Democrats might do so, saying only that the current strategy clearly is "not working."

"I don't want to anticipate that," said Hoyer, on "Fox News Sunday."

Some military officials, familiar with the discussions, say Mr. Bush at first could send 8,000 to 10,000 new troops to Baghdad, and possibly Anbar Province, and leave himself the option of adding more later if security does not improve.

"Based on the advice of current and former military leaders, we believe this tactic would be a serious mistake," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Saturday in the Democratic radio address.

Pelosi and Reid told Mr. Bush in a letter last week that Democrats oppose additional U.S. forces in Iraq and want him to begin withdrawing American troops within four to six months.

Pointing to the November elections that ousted Republicans from control of the House and Senate, Pelosi told Bob Schieffer the public is "watching to see what difference this election can make. The president ought to heed their message... We should not be obliged to an open-ended war."

She said Democrats are not interesting in cutting off money for troops already in Iraq — "We won't do that" — and that her party favors increased the overall size of the Army by 30,000 and Marines by 20,000 "to make sure we are able to protect the American people."

"That's different though, than adding troops to Iraq," Pelosi said.

The speaker stopped short of stating categorically that Democrats would block money for additional troops in Iraq. But she did say, "The burden is on the president to justify any additional resources. ... The president's going to have to engage with Congress in the justification for any additional troops."

Sen. Joe Biden, Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said it would be a "tragic mistake" if Mr. Bush chooses to increase troops. But Biden said cutting off funds was not an option.

"As a practical matter there is no way to say this is going to be stopped," Biden said regarding a troop increase, unless enough congressional Republicans join Democrats in convincing Mr. Bush the strategy is wrong.

Biden added that it probably would be an unconstitutional violation of separation of powers if Democrats were to block Mr. Bush's efforts as commander in chief after Congress had voted to authorize going to war.

"It's unconstitutional to say, you can go, but we're going to micromanage," Biden said.

Although most of the discussion about Mr. Bush's anticipated plan has focused on troop strength, his strategy also is expected to address political and economic issues.

Military analysts say Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, who recently finished his tour as the No. 2 general in Iraq, has recommended a short-term jobs program.

Mr. Bush is said to favor short-term jobs programs, making micro-loans to small business and increasing the amount of money that military commanders can spend quickly on local projects to improve the daily lives of Iraqis.

Mr. Bush is expected to continue his briefings with lawmakers this week, culminating in a meeting with bipartisan leadership on Wednesday, according to lawmakers and aides.

Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress has approved about $500 billion for Iraq, Afghanistan and other terrorism-fighting efforts. The White House is working on its largest-ever appeal for more war funds — a record $100 billion, at least. It will be submitted along with the president's Feb. 5 budget.

"This war cost a trillion dollars if it ended now," Pelosi said. "But more important than that, the lives lost, the casualties sustained, the lost reputation in the world, and the damage to our military readiness. For these and other reasons we have to say to the president, in your speech ... we want to see a plan in a new direction because the direction you've been taking us in has not been successful.

"So when the bill comes ... it will receive the harshest scrutiny. What do we really need to protect our troops? What is there for an escalation? What is the justification for that?"

[szelag19]

Some "people" thought this country was not ready for a woman Speaker of the House..WRONG...you go girl! The better she does before the next Presidential election, the more chance a woman will have be elected President..(Go Hillary)!!!!
It just shows ta go ya...it takes a woman to get things done..

[grazinggoat]

r_bayless, sorry to call you r_brainless, but this is what you don't understand in Middel-Eastern history. Those people in Iraq, have not been brought in from Deep Bayou county, Louisiana, and thrown into the desert, you know.

Those are tribes who used to move around and settle in the desert from one oasis to an other, roaming over Eastern Jordan, Eastern Syria, Koweit, Saudi Arabia and South-Western Iran. Nonetheless, Iraq used to be, long before the colonial period of Brits, settled there in the middle and around the two rivers (Tigres and Euphrates), a region called Mesopotemia. When you say they have no storied memory, you are completely wrong. You just said it: It's a remnant of the Ottoman Empire that was devided into wilayats and emirats. Baghdad was a wilayat (a very important one). The fact that the Brits have devided the territory into a different configurations deos not mean they had no history. This is a childish look at history. A people is not affected by the limitation of an imaginary line in the sand of desert. Its history is built in their memory of interactions between relatives, neighbours and tribes.

r_bayless wrote:

"Dems, please! Bush is not going to get impeached and Cheney is not going to get thrown in prison - and any effort toward that end is wasted. Do they deserve it? Sure...
Repubs, please! Quit bashing Pelosi for cryin' out loud. It's just as pointless and counterproductive. She and the dems don't WANT to leave the troops without the necessary funds to fight the war. They just don't want more money and lives wasted in the fiasco."

Well said.

r_bayless wrote:

"Basically, we can't change the past - let's just try and figure out the best way to deal with the fiasco now. The best suggestion I've heard is to partitian Iraq into three seperate countries - Kurdistan and whatever the Shia and Sunnis want to name their own lands."

This simply will not work. Dividing Iraq up into 3 separate countries will only create more tension and cause more violence.

The fact is that certain areas in Iraq are richer in oil than other areas - dividing the country into three partitions would have to take that into account otherwise you are going to create a bigger division between the Kurds, the Shiites and the Sunnis. The wealth from oil would have to be shared.

You would also be forcing people to move from their homes and giving up their occupations/businesses etc.

This would not make "Iraq" a safer place - it would lead to an escalation in violence and the US would be seen as the "greater" enemy for destroying Iraq.

[grazinggoat]

We may need only 50,000 demand to impeach THE LIAR. Let's send them half a million ones

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/11/21/18331997.php

[gladys_over]

RE: "And the thing is that it [insider trading at Harken Energy] was so obvious and so incompetently done, that it had W's fingerprints all over it. The insider trading was more poorly thought out then his Iraq plan, though not as deadly." - RandalDS

In his "defense," after netting nearly a million dollars dumping Harken Energy stock that was about to tank, "Bush says he was unaware of the company's financial condition, despite sitting on Harken's audit board."

There were all kinds of red flags like that, long before the fool presumed to run for President.

Could the Iraq War have turned out any differently, with such a brain-dead Commander-in-Chief ?

No, the present disaster was inevitable, with him in charge.

[agnim]

1,200 Peace Activists Make Giant "Impeach" Sign on Beach
And in San Francisco, about 1,200 peace activists gathered on the beach Saturday to spell out the word Impeach in giant letters visible from the sky. The protest occurred in the district of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Advocates of impeaching President Bush have criticized Pelosi for saying that impeachment is off the table.

[agnim]

1,200 Peace Activists Make Giant "Impeach" Sign on Beach
And in San Francisco, about 1,200 peace activists gathered on the beach Saturday to spell out the word Impeach in giant letters visible from the sky. The protest occurred in the district of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Advocates of impeaching President Bush have criticized Pelosi for saying that impeachment is off the table.

[randalds]

Halliburton has a nice game going, they hire Iraq companies to do work, and pay them a specified amount, based upon Iraq wage scale, and then they turn around and bill the government American based wage scale.

PUT CHENEY IN JAIL, AND IMPEACH THE CHIMP.
Posted by long_rider at 01:25 PM : Jan 08, 2007

With some serious work and good investigations, I have no doubt that the democrats in Congress or the Senate can show a bribery connection to Cheney. I personally don't care if none of the billions of dollars he's scammed and stashed off-shore somewhere is ever recovered. It'll be worth the price to see him do "hard" time in a real prison. The idea of him having his final heart attack while being used in a prison shower is well worth the money.

[long_rider]

If I were in Iraq I would be packing my bags. The news article keeps refering to the chimps "current strategy", there is the problem, there ain't none.

There looks as though there will be two wars now, Iraq and DC.

I will be paying close attention to the chimps "new" plan, and see if this is just more bullsh*t or if it has meaning. The chimp hasen't a clue on what it takes to resolve this problem, nor does his Sec. of State. As for a jobs progam, I thought they started that a long time ago, and Halliburton ended up with most of the money.

Halliburton has a nice game going, they hire Iraq companies to do work, and pay them a specified amount, based upon Iraq wage scale, and then they turn around and bill the government American based wage scale.

PUT CHENEY IN JAIL, AND IMPEACH THE CHIMP.

[randalds]

Check out Dubya's blatant insider trading at Harken Energy.

It makes Hillary Clinton's cattle futures deal look like a slight kindergarten infraction.

If Martha Stewart had done that, she would have been hanged publicly, like Saddam Hussein.

But strangely enough, after Jim Baker rushed in, the SEC was disinclined to prosecute the son of the sitting President who had appointed the Commissioner who then headed the SEC.

Isn't that amazing...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
ki/Harken_Energy_Scandal
Posted by Gladys_Over at 10:46 AM : Jan 08, 2007

And the thing is that it was so obvious and so incompetently done, that it had W's fingerprints all over it. The insider trading was more poorly thought out then his Iraq plan, though not as deadly. In a fair world with real justice he'd have been in jail before he had a chance to run for Governor of Texas, let alone president and 100's of thousands of more people would be alive today inside of being the victims of his murderous stupidity.

[clestes-2009]

tuppman, I think it was for main reasons. Money and legacy. His dad had a great one as a war president. He wanted to up the old man. So he and the neocons (Rummy) dreamed up this presposerus plan to sweep Iraq into democracy and be sure to get oil on the side.

It was never for the right reasons and that is only one of the reasons it has failed.

Now his legacy is going to be the president who started a war on lies, and couldn't accept the fact it was not going to succeed, thereby throwing away lives and money.

[gladys_over]

Re "We got a dishonest sleazy man in 2000 and 2004."

Check out Dubya's blatant insider trading at Harken Energy.

It makes Hillary Clinton's cattle futures deal look like a slight kindergarten infraction.

If Martha Stewart had done that, she would have been hanged publicly, like Saddam Hussein.

But strangely enough, after Jim Baker rushed in, the SEC was disinclined to prosecute the son of the sitting President who had appointed the Commissioner who then headed the SEC.

Isn't that amazing...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harken_Energy_Scandal

[tuppman]

Well it's about blanking time. And While you are at it ask the egomaniac why he really went into Iraq,because his lies aren't believable any more

[tuppman]

Well it's about Blanking time

[gladys_over]

Nancy Pelosi looks so much more mature than the other Congressmen in that photo above.

[gladys_over]

We got a dishonest sleazy man in 2000 and 2004.

Shouldn't the dishonest sleazy women have a chance too ?

[hambonehd]

hillaryin08,
oh yea, that's what we need. A dishonest, sleezy woman at that.

[gladys_over]

"Using someone's name and then bashing them is nothing new..."

cf. The Greek Goddess Pallas Athene.

When the Titan Pallas tried to make love to Athene she slew him, then added his name to hers as a warning to other suitors.

And this has been your Mythology Minute.

[clestes-2009]

About *** time someone made this bumbler accountable for the money spent. So far, 500 billion has been spent and how much of that is lost is in the unkown billions and, as far as I can see, NOTHING has been accomplished except a lot dead people and a destroyed country. That is NOT how I want to spend my money.

Bush has not shown any progress in Iraq in years, in fact, the situation has gotten steadily worse. I am not in favor of throwing good money after wasted money and that is what is going to happen. Iraq is NEVER going to be the self reliant govn Bush dreams about by putting US troops there. This is a middle east problem and only they can solve it.