Bush: Don't Forget, I am the Decider
In case you forgot, President Bush again reminded the world that he is the Decider. Make no mistake, when decisions need to be made, Bush is your man. Sure, it make take several months, especially if an election falls in the middle there, but President Bush will, eventually, make a decision and fuck you if you disagree with it. What do you think this is, a government Of and By then people?
President Bush again today asserted his authority as Commander in Chief and challenged critics of his escalation policy in Iraq to "to put up their own plan as to what would work." The Murtha Plan where US forces would redeploy to rear areas out of Iraq but within striking distance if the shit really hit the fan and threatened US interests? That doesn't count. The Biden Plan that would partition Iraq into three states with one central government to oversee national security and manage oil revenues to be split among the states? Fuck that.
One of the many problems with the "Iraqi War Resolution" that authorized Bush to remove Saddam from power and basically do what he wants from there, is that it essentially removed Congress from their role in oversight. This was not a declaration of war—the US hasn't declared War since 1941—but rather an "authorization of force," which the President as Commander in Chief is already granted by the US Constitution. The resolution, if anything, is really political cover and an emasculator of Congress. Similar to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution LBJ pushed through in 1964 that allowed the President to escalate US involvement in Vietnam, it allows Bush to go back and say "but you said I could do this" when things go badly. And things have certainly gone badly. Bush's rubber stamp from Congress is actually in response to the War Powers Act instutued by Congress in the wake of Vietnam's debacle and was intended to limit just the sort of folly we find ourselves in now.
There are sings this US Congress will actually try to limit the President though. They've signaled their disagreement with the escalation policy with several resolution of varying language and said in no uncertain terms that they did NOT authorize a military strike of any sort on Iran.
The administration's response? Shove it.
"We've consulted extensively with them," Vice President Cheney said. "We'll continue to consult with the Congress. But the fact of the matter is, we need to get the job done."
What the "job" is nobody knows but when President Bush decides what it is I'm sure you'll be the first to know.
