I haven't been following Congress closely this December, but reading about the surprise Bush pocket veto of the military policy bill, I was struck with the thought that Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton, has been accused of dealings with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Perhaps they got nervous about some enterprising future legislator asking uncomfortable questions? I could be wrong, and it could be just that Bush is a dick.
CRAWFORD, Tex. — For months President Bush harangued Democrats in Congress for not moving quickly enough to support the troops and for bogging down military bills with unrelated issues.
And then on Friday, with no warning, a vacationing Mr. Bush announced that he was vetoing a sweeping military policy bill because of an obscure provision that could expose Iraq’s new government to billions of dollars in legal claims dating to Saddam Hussein’s rule.
The decision left the Bush administration scrambling to promise that it would work with Congress to quickly restore dozens of new military and veterans programs once Congress returns to work in January.
Those included an added pay raise for service members, which would have taken effect on Tuesday, and improvements in veterans’ health benefits, which few elected officials on either side want to be seen opposing.
Mr. Bush’s veto surprised and infuriated Democratic lawmakers and even some Republicans, who complained that the White House had failed to raise its concerns earlier.
And it gave Democrats a chance to wield Mr. Bush’s support-the-troops oratory against him, which they did with relish.
“Only George Bush could be for supporting the troops before he was against it,” Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, said in a statement, reworking a familiar Republican attack during his unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2004 that he supported the war in Iraq before he turned against it.
The veto was an embarrassment for administration officials, who struggled on Friday to explain why they had not acted earlier to object to the provision, Section 1083 of a 1,300-page, $696 billion military authorization bill. It would expand the ability of Americans to seek financial compensation from countries that supported or sponsored terrorist acts, including Libya, Iran and Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
[Click to read more of In Surprise Step, Bush Is Vetoing a Military Bill]
Strange especially how even the Republicans were initially surprised by Bush's actions as well.
