He Really Wants To Direct

by digby

Spencer Ackerman at TPM points out this very interesting letter from George W. Bush to the Armed Service Committee:

It's official: President Bush will veto any and all measures put forth by Congressional Dems to halt the Iraq War, according to a little-noticed letter from the White House to Carl Levin (D-MI), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The letter also says that the White House will veto any measure that would tie its hands on Iran -- including on military action inside that country.

That Bush will veto any such measures was expected, and isn't surprising. Nonetheless, the letter makes it official that Congressional Dems face the daunting prospect of having to muster a veto-proof majority on any Iraq or Iran measures. The little-noticed letter can be read right here.

The Iran section of the letter is particularly interesting. It says the White House will veto any Congressional effort to either "direct or prohibit" any military, intelligence or diplomatic action regarding Iran. While the emphasis is clearly on possible restrictions to the president's ability to go after the Iranians, the most prominent amendment on Iran is Sen. Joe Lieberman's (ID-CT) successful effort to get the Senate to "confront" Iran for alleged attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. It'll be interesting to see if that effort, which passed the Senate yesterday on a 97-0 vote, spurs Bush's veto pen.


Ackerman has the veto threat letters at the link.

First of all we have the rather disconcerting news that Bush himself is making explicit references to Iran rather than simply say that he was going to veto any restrictions on his ability to conduct foreign policy blah, blah, blah. He's not even trying to hide it.

But, as Ackerman cleverly notes, it will be very interesting to see if Bush is as adamant about his prerogatives when the congress is "directing" him as he is about the congress restricting him.

Nothing else seems to work with this fool so maybe it's time to try reverse psychology. Like you would with a four year old. Perhaps the Democrats should taunt Bush on the subject, characterizing the Senate as directing Bush to conduct foreign policy their way and warning him that he must not veto it.

H/T Tnrc


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