-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: January 14, 2007 9:40:50 PM PST
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Bush Tells Congress "You Can't Stop Me"
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/14/US.iraq.ap/
White House:
We will send more troops in Iraq
Story Highlights
• President Bush: "I've made my decision. We're going forward"
• Vice President Cheney says Congress won't influence troop plans
• Cheney says Democrats don't have coherent alternative to Bush
strategy
• Cheney says giving up in Iraq would send wrong message to enemies
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush, facing opposition from both
parties over his plan to send more troops to Iraq, said he has the
authority to act no matter what Congress wants.
"I fully understand they could try to stop me from doing it. But
I've made my decision. And we're going forward," Bush told CBS' "60
Minutes" in an interview to air Sunday night.
Vice President Dick Cheney asserted that lawmakers' criticism will
not influence Bush's plans and he dismissed any effort to "run a
war by committee."
"The president is the commander in chief. He's the one who has to
make these tough decisions," Cheney said.
The defiant White House stance comes as both the House and Senate,
now controlled by Democrats, prepare to vote on resolutions that
oppose additional U.S. troops in Iraq. Cheney said those nonbinding
votes would not affect Bush's ability to carry out his policies.
"He's the guy who's got to decide how to use the force and where to
deploy the force," Cheney said. "And Congress obviously has to
support the effort through the power of the purse. So they've got a
role to play, and we certainly recognize that. But you also cannot
run a war by committee."
Any attempts to block Bush's efforts would undermine the troops,
Cheney said. He took particular aim at Democratic lawmakers who
have blasted the president for increasing troops despite opposition
from Congress, military advisers and a disgruntled electorate that
in November ousted the Republicans as the majority party on Capitol
Hill.
"They have absolutely nothing to offer in its place," Cheney said
of Democratic leaders. "I have yet to hear a coherent policy from
the Democratic side."
Yet many Republican lawmakers, too, have begun to criticize Bush's
war management. Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, for example, said last
week he feared Bush's plan would be the worst foreign policy
blunder since the Vietnam War.
Responding to that, Cheney said the most dangerous blunder would be
to give up on the global fight against terrorism because the United
States has decided the war in Iraq is too difficult. That is just
what America's terrorist enemies are counting on, he said.
"They're convinced that the United States will pack it in and go
home if they just kill enough of us," Cheney said. "They can't beat
us in a standup fight, but they think they can break our will."
Bush announced last week he will send 21,500 more troops to Iraq to
halt violence, mainly around Baghdad, as an essential step toward
stabilizing the country's government. That plan -- along with
economic and political steps -- are meant to allow Iraqis to move
ahead with securing the country themselves and allow U.S. troops to
gradually return home. (Full story)
Like Bush, though, Cheney said Americans need to look at the war in
Iraq as part of a much longer effort.
"This is an existential conflict," Cheney said. "It is the kind of
conflict that's going to drive our policy and our government for
the next 20 or 30 or 40 years. We have to prevail and we have to
have the stomach for the fight long term."
The White House also said Sunday that Iranians are aiding the
insurgency in Iraq and the U.S. has the authority to pursue them
because they "put our people at risk."
"We are going to need to deal with what Iran is doing inside Iraq,"
national security adviser Stephen Hadley said.
Added Cheney: "Iran is fishing in troubled waters inside Iraq."
The U.S. military in Baghdad said five Iranians arrested in
northern Iraq last week were connected to an Iranian Revolutionary
Guard faction that funds and arms insurgents in Iraq.
"We do not want them doing what they can to destabilize the
situation inside Iraq," Cheney said.
Bush's revised war strategy seeks to isolate Iran and Syria, which
the U.S. has accused of fueling attacks in Iraq. The president also
says Iran and Syria have not done enough to block terrorists from
entering Iraq over their borders.
"We know there are jihadists moving from Syria into Iraq. ... We
know also that Iran is supplying elements in Iraq that are
attacking Iraqis and attacking our forces," Hadley said.
"What the president made very clear is these are activities that
are going on in Iraq that are unacceptable. They put our people at
risk. He said very clearly that we will take action against those.
We will interdict their operations, we will disrupt their supply
lines, we will disrupt these attacks," Hadley said.
"We are going to need to deal with what Iran is doing inside Iraq."
Iran's government denied the five detainees were involved in
financing and arming insurgents and said they should be released.
Hadley was interviewed on "This Week" on ABC and "Meet the Press"
on NBC. Cheney was on "Fox News Sunday."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
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