Veto that funding bill Mr. President

The President should veto the funding bill that Congress will present to him in a few days. Though I wish nothing more than to see the troops come home, this bill will not bring the troops home, and will futher endanger the lives of the troops on the ground. It is quite clear that the President is committed to Iraq, and that he will not be pulling troops out of there. This attempt of Congress to meddle in foreign diplomacy is reckless and dangerous, and it echoes the debacle in Somalia when President Clinton refused to allow commanders on the ground AC-130 Spectre gunships and Bradley armored fighting vehicles. A lot of people died needlessly in Somalia because of a lack of resolve from civilian planners and politicians. By withholding essential equipment, or the procurement of such equipment - like this spending bill will do - Congress is in effect making the US armed forces in Iraq less capable. Men and women on the ground will pay for this in blood. In comparison when Canadian Forces operate in Afghanistan, they have a massive amount of equipment and are well-funded, everything from tanks to armored personnel carriers and artillery.

You can't fight a war without the proper men and equipment, and though it is noble of Congress to want to bring the troops home, cutting off their funding will not bring them home, especially since the President is totally committed to continuing the war in Iraq. The troops lives will now be in limbo, either you completely withdraw the troops from Iraq or you must totally fund and grant them the equipment that they will need to win the war (though the war in unwinnable because there is no clearly defined end goal). The President is not going to pull the troops out, so a passing of this bill will make another Blackhawk Down scenario.