Vol. 71/No. 21      May 28, 2007

On May 1, Bush vetoed a $100 billion war package passed by the House of Representatives and Senate. Democrats painted that as antiwar because it included dates for redeploying U.S. troops from combat roles in Iraq.

Meanwhile, deployment of additional U.S. troops to Iraq continues unabated. The Pentagon has alerted 10 Army brigades they will likely be sent to Iraq in August. Washington is trying to stabilize the regime in Baghdad, which continues to fracture under the conflict between wealthy Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds seeking control of Iraq's oil resources.

The House approved a bill May 10 that would fund Washington's wars in installments—$30 billion immediately, and another $50 billion in mid-July after Bush delivers a progress report on the war in Iraq. The latter amount could come with restrictions, including a timetable for redeployment of U.S. troops.

Bush has threatened to veto the new House bill but indicated he would be open to setting "benchmarks" for the Iraqi government to make progress in stabilizing the country.

Keeping up the Democrats' "antiwar" posture, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senator Russell Feingold of Wisconsin are sponsoring an amendment to cut off war funding by March 31, 2008. Another amendment by Senate Armed Services chairman Carl Levin, also cosponsored by Reid, would begin troop redeployment by October 1 with completion by the end of next March. It would also allow Bush to waive the dates under certain conditions. Neither amendment is expected to pass. Reid said these proposals would allow for a "debate" on troop redeployment without tying up money for the war.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman announced May 8 that about 35,000 additional soldiers are being readied for deployment to Iraq. On January 10 Bush announced the dispatch of 25,000 more troops to the country, increasing the U.S. occupation force to 160,000 troops as part of a military offensive called the “surge.” The latest deployments would maintain that larger occupation force through the summer, Whitman said.

Thousands of Iraqis have died in the last few months under the U.S.-led occupation and the tit-for-tat sectarian killings carried out by militias linked to Shiite and Sunni capitalists. The Iraqi government said 1,506 civilians were killed in April—down from 1,861 in March and 1,645 in February.

On May 8 Iraq's vice president Tariq al-Hashimi threatened a walkout by Sunni members of the cabinet and parliament unless the Iraqi constitution is amended to prevent dividing the country into Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish regions. Hashimi leads the Iraqi Islamic Party, which is prominent among Sunnis.

The country's largest oil fields are in the predominantly Shiite south and the Kurdish-run autonomous province in the north. Washington has pressed the Iraqi government, with no success so far, to pass an oil revenue sharing law to obtain cooperation from wealthy Sunnis.  
 
 
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