WASHINGTON, March 28 (UPI) -- The White House fired both barrels at Capitol Hill Democrats Wednesday and repeated the vow of a presidential veto on present Iraq supplemental proposals.
President Bush, speaking to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, called troop withdrawal provision in the legislation, "disastrous."
"Our enemies in Iraq would simply have to mark their calendars. They'd spend the months ahead plotting how to use their new safe haven once we were to leave. It makes no sense for politicians in Washington, D.C. to be dictating arbitrary timelines for our military commanders in a war zone 6,000 miles away," he said.
White House Deputy press spokeswoman Dana Perino slammed Democrats for being "disingenuous."
Democrats, she said, had known for weeks Bush would veto any bill with a withdrawal timeline, yet they continued to craft such legislation, she said. They also cobbled together a bill loaded with unrelated, home-district project spending.
"Let me remind you that two months ago, the National Intelligence Estimate ... predicted that withdrawing coalition forces from Iraq within the next 12 to 18 months would not solve Iraq's problems, but would, in fact, lead to catastrophe," Perino said.
"Democrats in Congress must take responsibility for their votes and their statements, and stop trying to have it both ways. It is completely disingenuous to stand and highlight the intelligence community's judgement about conditions on the ground in Iraq one month ... but then vote for the precise action that the same experts say would make the situation catastrophic the next."
The Senate bill likely to be sent to Bush for signing authorizes about $120 billion to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and also hurricane Katrina cleanup -- for fiscal 2007. The administration had asked for about $96 billion and no pork provisions. The bill also would require some troops to leave Iraq within 3 months of signing. A non-binding provision calls for the bulk of troops to leave Iraq by next spring.
The House passed similar legislation last week.
