House Passes a Revised Military Policy Measure After Previously Vetoed

After being vetoed by President Bush, a $696 billion military policy measure was approved in the House of Representatives with a sweeping 369 to 46. Originally, President Bush had supported the original bill; however, after there had been some disagreements from the Iraqi government, Bush vetoed it on one condition: he wanted part of the bill to be changed. The original bill had stated that Americans who had been affected by state-sponsored terrorism under Saddam Hussein could seize foreign assets in America by suing. The Iraqis said that they would withdraw $25 billion from American banks if this one part of the bill was not fixed. President Bush agreed with the Iraqis and told Senator Lautenberg, the author of the bill, that it needed to be changed.

Although the bill does give the President the ability to waive any law-suits in regards to Iraq, the House does urge the administration to negotiate with the Iraqis to try and compensate those that had been affected by state-sponsored terrorism under Hussein’s reign. For some, they really like this bill despite the fact Iraq is waived from having to pay. For them, they feel that those that are affected by terrorism sponsored by Iran or Libya should be allowed to collect their judgment. According to Senator Lautenberg, he is glad that Iran and Libya will have to pay the price for this terrorism. Perhaps it’ll make them think twice before sponsoring terrorists.

However, there are some that think that President Bush took too long to sign this bill because his interests were not in America, but in Iraq. It is believed that the President was more interested in Iraq’s financial situations than in the American people. One Democrat representative, Steny H. Hoyer, said that it was extraordinary that Iraq would threaten to withdraw their money from American banks after Bush recently asked for another $196 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a sense, they are saying that if they don’t get their way, they will pull out $25 billion when Americans are spending close to eight times that amount of money. This is a bit preposterous to some.

This situation brings about some debate over President Bush and how he has broken promise after promise. It is strongly believed Iraq should pay for those Americans that were used as human shields leading up to the Gulf War. And it is believed that Iraq should pay for those pilots that were shot down and tortured. However, it looks as if President Bush is more interested in Iraq than American people. That’s not very President like and that’s the issue people are having. Regardless, the Senate is expected to approve the revised bill next week. The good news is that American soldiers will see a 3.5% increase in their salaries as well as in their benefits. So, although President Bush is sort of siding with the Iraqis, those that are defending our rights are getting compensated.