Congress Requires Presidential Accounting on Iraq, Plus: Newsflash from Ministry of Truth

By Scott Horton

The House and the Senate have now passed legislation on the Iraq War providing interim funding and requiring specific accounting by the President. After reading several press accounts, I stopped to look over the legislation itself. As expected, the mainstream media accounts have little resemblance to the legislation and much more resemblance to a now widely disseminated set of White House talking points. Georgetown Prof. Marty Lederman provides a superb walk-through of the legislation today explaining exactly what it does and does not do, but here’s a key passage:

the bill would also require the Executive branch to begin (though not to complete) a redeployment of troops from Iraq—and the President has concluded that such a directive warrants his veto, notwithstanding the bill's generous funding of the troops, veterans and flood victims.

As usual, the nation's media have written countless stories about the public debate on this bill without providing ready access to the actual statutory language at the heart of the dispute.

White House press spokeswoman Donna Perino issues a typically Orwellian response to passage of the legislation:

Last November, the American people voted for a change in strategy in Iraq—and the President listened. Tonight, the House of Representatives voted for failure in Iraq—and the President will veto its bill.

Got that? The American people voted decisively for a change in policy to the Iraq, and the president is giving them just what they asked for—an escalation of the conflict. Next question.