Bush Vetoes Supplemental for Iraq , Rice will be Polite (Juan Cole)

[laststeamtrain]

Bush vetoed the supplemental appropriations bill for Iraq that Congress sent him on May 1.
You know, Bush and Cheney and others got this meme going last fall that critics of the war had a responsibility to put forward their own solution to the problems. So the Congress has stepped up to that plate and said that a beginning can be made to resolving the Iraq crisis only if the US makes a commitment to bring its troops out of that country on a short timetable.

Bush is now revealing that he did not actually want to hear other proposals besides his fatally flawed "stay the course" policy. So now the ball is in his court. He has the responsiblity to lay out what he plans to do in September when it almost certainly be clear that the security situation is not substantially better and the al-Maliki government is not less paralyzed.

Charlie Rose asked him this question, and he fudged it, saying he had no plan B. That's not good enough, George. What's your plan, since you don't like that of the Congress? The American public isn't going to put up with "stay the course" any more, and they aren't buying the alleged connection of Iraq to September 11.

With regard to the prospect that Condi Rice might talk to Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki at Sharm El Sheikh, Bush said that if there is an encounter, she will be polite. Bush sent an extra aircraft carrier to the Gulf to threaten Iran, and Cheney and Rumsfeld wanted to nuke Isfahan. But God forbid the administration should be rude to an Iranian official.

<more>

http://www.juancole.com/2007/05/bush-vetoes-supplemental-for-iraq-11.html