Prometheus 6   

No less than anyone expected

I note with interest that the N.Y. Times is calling it "The Occupation." At last.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 -- Congress voted overwhelmingly on Friday in favor of President Bush's request for $87 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, handing him a solid mandate for the continued occupation and reconstruction of Iraq.

There were a few scattered rebellions. Both chambers trimmed nearly $2 billion in reconstruction projects they considered excessive, and the Senate voted to require Iraq to repay up to $10 billion in aid.

These issues will be negotiated in a conference committee next week where, the president's supporters predicted, they would eliminate the loan requirement and restore the original spending levels. Although Mr. Bush vigorously opposed the changes to his bill, he has not threatened to veto it if the changes remain.

Otherwise, the president received almost everything he asked for when he announced his postwar plans on Sept. 7. The $67 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan was left virtually unchanged, and Mr. Bush won the control he sought to shape the reconstruction of Iraq.

The vote in the House was 303 to 125, with most Democrats voting against the spending bill and only six Republicans opposed. In the Senate, the vote was 87 to 12, with 11 Democrats and an independent voting no.

Most arguments in each chamber were about the $20.3 billion in reconstruction aid, which members of both parties worried was excessive at a time of high deficits and tight domestic budgets.

Some Democrats said they had voted for the measure reluctantly, and were still critical of the administration's policies.

"My vote for this bill is for one reason only," said Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois, "to give our troops the resources they need to carry out their mission. But my vote should not be interpreted as supporting this administration's postwar policy in Iraq, or the lack of one."

But Republican leaders ultimately persuaded broad majorities that improving the quality of life in Iraq was as vital as tanks and warplanes.

What about the quality of life in the USofA? At least you cheap labor Conservatives haven't bombed us yet. Excet maybe metaphorically…