Congress Approves $70B For Wars

Passage Of Massive Spending Bill Marks Dems' Failure To Force Change In Bush's Iraq Policy

(AP)  Congress approved $70 billion Wednesday for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a bitter finish for majority Democrats who tried to force a change in President Bush's war policy.

The House's 272-142 vote also sent the president a $555 billion catchall spending bill that combines the war money with money for 14 Cabinet departments.

Bush and his Senate GOP allies forced the Iraq money upon anti-war Democrats as the price for permitting the year-end budget deal to pass and be signed. But other Democrats were eager to avoid being seen as not supporting troops who are in harm's way - and avoid weeks of bashing by Bush for failing to provide that money.

"This is a blank check," complained Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. "The new money in this bill represents one cave-in too many. It is an endorsement of George Bush's policy of endless war."

The vote reflected the reluctance by each party to deny money to troops in the field. At the same time, anti-war Democrats had found their position weakened by the decline in violence in Iraq.

War spending aside, Bush's GOP allies were divided over whether the overall spending bill was a victory for their party in the months-long fight with Democrats over agency budgets.

Conservatives and outside groups such as the Club for Growth, which seeks to elect lawmakers opposed to tax and spending increases, criticized the bill for having about $28 billion in domestic spending that topped Bush's budget and was paid for by a combination of "emergency" spending, transfers from the defense budget and other maneuvers.

Republican leaders acknowledged some excesses. But they said the measure could have cost a lot more if the GOP and the White House not stood firm against more than $20 billion in additional domestic spending included in Democratic spending bills that passed last summer.

"The fact is we got the number down to the baseline," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Boehner supported moves that effectively broke Bush's budget cap to provide record budget increases for veterans and to build a fence and provide additional security along the U.S.-Mexico border.

While disappointed on the Iraq money, Democrats said the spending bill smoothed the rough edges of the president's February budget plan. That proposal had sought below-inflation increases for most domestic programs and contained numerous cuts and program eliminations.

For Democrats, just finishing the budget ended up as the driving goal. They wanted to avoid the humiliation of failing to enact the spending bills after criticizing then-majority Republicans for not doing so last year.

The spending legislation affects virtually every part of the government other than the Defense Department's core programs. It would pay for food and toy safety inspections, NASA, the FBI, the Coast Guard, education, health research and national park operations.

It also contains about 9,000 pet projects sought by lawmakers, at a cost of more than $7 billion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based group that fights such projects.

The bill would raise the pay of federal civilian workers by 3.5 percent, extend farm subsidies the food stamp program until March 15 and eliminated money for a next generation nuclear warhead. It also would keep banks from entering the real estate business.

But the White House succeeded in using veto threats to rid the bill of more contentious items such as ending a ban on U.S. aid to overseas family planning groups that perform abortions and easing financing of agricultural and medical sales to Cuba.

[tngreen]

Once more, a big shout out and thanks to the Congressional Democrats for helping build the Green Party.

Sick of this ***? VOTE GREEN.

--A Tennessee Green

[samsel3]

On September 14,2002 Rep. James McDermott at a Capitol Hill Briefing said that politics and oil, not fear that Iraq will use WMD are driving factors behind the presidents call for regime change. McDermott said there was an organized effort to squelch such discussions. "The political operatives in the white house have been very careful to spin it away from oil. Anytime anybody sees a connection they spin it the other way."

[samsel3]

The administrations interest in Iran & nukes is a smoke screen for their real agenda. Their true interests are Cheney''s energy policy.Condi Rice is a former board member of Chevron oil and mouthpiece for the administrations energy policy. Part of that policy is the The Caspian Sea pipeline which will go through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan,Pakistan,to the gulf of Oman and possibly on to India & Nepal.It will be cheaper to construct if they can go through Iran, but regime change is necessary first. The Caspian sea area holds one third of the world''s oil and south asian oil markets are their target market. This pipeline was also the reason for the Afghanistan invasion. Cheney''s energy policy is the root of all these middle east wars, a federal court judge sealed all documents associated with it for the administration, and it''s a shame that the national media are not allowed to discuss or comment on it. More troops are needed in Afghanistan to protect the contractors building the pipeline. Iran stands in the way of total control of global oil with direct sales of oil to china and is now in the crosshairs. China said there would be dire consequences if the US interfered with there direct oil contracts with Iran. Both parties in the Congress should be very concerned with China''s growing war machine and need for oil. They are the real threat & the administration doesn''t care they are in control!!! All that matters to them is BIG OIL and their corporate stock portfolios

[taotxzen]

2007 Budget Favors Defense
Medicare Takes Biggest Hit in $2.7 Trillion Plan
By Amy Goldstein%u2028Washington Post Staff Writer%u2028Sunday, February 5, 2006; A01

President Bush plans to propose a $2.7 trillion budget tomorrow that would shrink most parts of the government unrelated to the nation''s military while slowing spending on Medicare by $36 billion during the next five years, according to White House documents.
The spending plan Bush is to recommend to Congress will call for the elimination or reduction of 141 programs -- for a savings of $14.5 billion -- across a broad swath of federal agencies, according to administration and congressional officials who have had access to budget documents in advance. Wide-ranging as they are, those cuts pale in comparison with the White House''s attempt to carve money from Medicare -- the first tangible result from a vow the president made in his State of the Union address last week to constrain the massive entitlement programs for the elderly and the poor.
Overall, the budget for the 2007 fiscal year would further reshape the government in the way the administration has been striving to during the past half-decade: building up military capacity while restraining expenditures on many domestic areas, from education programs to train service.
Spending for the departments of Commerce, Education, Energy and Interior, in particular, will be flat or decreased.

[taotxzen]

We allocate money for the military, just like we allocate money for just about everything else. You dont like it, tough.

Posted by mudrose

I cannot believe you guys, and Mudbrain is your leader.... well I guess that does make sense when you consider your criteria for picking a "leader."

2007 Discretionary Spending

Each $ = 1 Billion Dollars

Military
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517 Billion

Education
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60 Billion

Health Care
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51 Billion

Environment
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28 Billion

[taotxzen]

The Trouble with Torture

250 former Iraq detainees claim torture in new US lawsuit

Tue Dec 18, 2:26 PM ET

More than 250 people once held in Iraqi prisons, including the notorious Abu Ghraib, have filed suit against a US military contractor for their alleged torture, attorneys said Tuesday.

The Center for Constitutional Rights said a lawsuit was filed in US federal court on Monday asking for millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages against CACI International Inc. of Arlington, Virginia.

The complaint, filed in the name 256 former detainees who were released without ever being charged with a crime, alleges that CACI interrogators who were sent to Iraqi prisons directed and engaged in torture between 2003-2004.

(cont)

[taotxzen]

(cont)

The lawsuit charges that the detainees were repeatedly beaten, sodomized, threatened with rape, kept naked in their cells, subjected to electric shock and attacked by unmuzzled dogs, among other humiliations.

The court action also names two CACI employees -- Stephen Stefanowski, knowns as Big Steve, and Daniel Johnson, known as DJ -- accusing them of participating in the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

The two contractors allegedly directed corporal Charles Graner, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for this role in the Abu Ghraib scandal, and sergeant Ivan Frederick, who is serving an eight-year jail term, according to the lawsuit.

"These corporate guys worked in a conspiracy with those military guys to torture people," Susan Burke, the lead attorney in the case, told AFP.

"And now the military have been held accountable, but the company guys and the company have not been," she said.

The complaint is the latest against CACI, which has faced lawsuits since 2004. A previous class-action lawsuit was rejected by a court.

[hungry1968]

No, the choices were, do I consider ALL of the possible threats and prevent future attacks like 9/11 or do I cut and run? History will prove that Bush made the right choice.

Posted by katg21 at 06:00 PM : Dec 20, 2007



And he chose to cut and run from the actual terrorists to instead go into Iraq.

[coolprophet]

A FOREIGN POLICY OF FREEDOM
All of the other presidential candidates want to continue our illegal police action in Iraq indefinitely, and they do not rule out a preemptive (nuclear) first strike against Iran. Conversely, Ron Paul voted against our (undeclared) war in Iraq, which was sold to us with lies. The area is more dangerous now than when we entered it. We destroyed a regime hated by our direct enemies--the jihadists, and created thousands of new recruits for them. The war in Iraq has cost more than 3,500 American lives and almost a trillion dollars. We need a leader in the White House who will ensure this never happens again. Both Jefferson and Washington warned us about entangling ourselves in the affairs of other nations. Today, we have 750 foreign bases and troops in 130 countries. We are spread so thin that we have too few troops defending America. And now, there are new calls for a draft. We can continue to fund and fight no-win police actions around the globe, or we can refocus on securing our borders against illegal aliens who are invading us from the South. No war should ever be fought without a Declaration of War voted upon by the Congress, as required by The Constitution. Under no circumstances should the U.S. again go to war as the result of a resolution that comes from an unelected, foreign body, such as the United Nations. Too often, we give foreign aid and intervene on behalf of governments that are despised. Then, we become despised.

[coolprophet]

MORE TROOPS AND VETERANS SUPPORT RON PAUL
On Veteran''s Day, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul today addressed a crowd of over 5,000 enthusiastic veterans and supporters in Philadelphia. The Veteran''s Day weekend rally took place at Independence Mall. Thousands of veterans and their friends and families heard country music superstar Rockie Lynne open the event for the Texas congressman. John Holland, the founder of a leading advocacy organization for troops, veterans, and POW/MIAs, delivered an enthusiastic endorsement of Congressman Paul, before the congressman addressed the crowd. The rally coincided with the launch of the Veterans for Paul Coalition, a group composed entirely of American war veterans. "Dr. Paul''s support among veterans is extremely high," said Paul campaign spokesman Joe Seehusen. "These great patriots who have fought for our country know that only Dr. Paul''s foreign policy of peace and secure borders can guarantee true national security, and they want him fighting for our country''s freedom." Congressman Paul was himself a Captain in the Air Force who served as a flight surgeon during the "totally unnecessary and illegal" Vietnam war. He receives more campaign contributions from former and active military and military affiliates than all of the other 2008 presidential candidates combined.