Celebrating Victory in Iraq and Afganistan

[Luke_Wilbur]

This smells like President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech. I'm sorry, but this is not what I pay taxes for. Why is Congress wasting its paid time on foolish things like this? Lets win the war first!!!

 

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WASHINGTON - Even as the Bush administration urges Americans to stay the course in Iraq, Republicans in Congress have put down a quiet marker in the apparent hope that V-I Day might be only months away.

 

Tucked away in fine print in the military spending bill for this past year was $20 million to pay for a celebration in the nation's capital "for commemoration of success'' in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

advertisement Not surprisingly, the money was not spent.

 

Now congressional Republicans are saying, in effect, maybe next year. A paragraph written into spending legislation and approved by the Senate and House allows the $20 million to be rolled over into 2007.

 

The original legislation empowered the president to designate ``a day of celebration'' to commemorate the success of the armed forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and to ``issue a proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe that day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.''

 

The celebration would honor the soldiers, sailors, air crews and Marines who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it would be held in Washington, with the $20 million to cover the costs of military participation.

 

Democrats on Capitol Hill called attention to the measure. The Democrats said both the original language and the one-year extension were pushed by Senate Republicans. A spokesman for the Republican-controlled Senate Armed Services Committee said it was protocol not to identify sponsors of such specific legislation.

 

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2006/10/...on=nation_world

 

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/04/congress.iraq.ap/