What A May Day: Iraq, Meet Immigration

Four years can bring about a lot of change, as President Bush learned on Tuesday as he vetoed a supplemental Iraq War budget because it included a timeline for troop withdrawal. I argued for a veto, but on different grounds (oil).

Reminder: it was 1 May 2003 that America was treated with images of "Mission Accomplished."

In the interim, we've had Walter Reid and Abu Ghraib ... GitMo and Pat Tillman... AttorneyGate and PlameGate and Scooter Libby.

Yet the war rages on.

In January, ignoring the advice of the Iraq Study Group, the President announced a troop surge of 21,500. However, 28,829 members of the armed forces have been announced or approved for deployment to Iraq: for combat, support, military police, provincial reconstruction and combat aviation. Tours of duty officially extended. National Guard and Reserves stretched thin.

All the while, quality of life indicators in Iraq remain mixed. And citizens of both the US and Iraq are weary of war.

Last month, on the fourth-year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, the President called for immigration reform. As he vetoed the Iraq bill on Monday, thousands rallied for immigration reform in Texas, California, Detroit, Seattle ...

Not a lot of smiles in the White House these days.

See

• Bush on Iraq: Then and Now
• Iraq Timeline - Bush Strategies
• Iraq: The Third Anniversary
• Iraq: The Fourth Anniversary