I'm trying to imagine how the pundit class of the media would have had a field day with this, had Clinton said it. I can just picture the rush of Republican congresspeople clamoring to get on air to denounce this kind of rhetoric. Just a logic question for the war supporters out there: wouldn't encouraging our enemy to 'wait it out' (suggesting the arguable theory that they will retreat until we leave and then return to attack the Iraqis) as Bush suggests give us the opportunity to train the Iraqis to defend themselves AND for the Iraqi government to establish themselves?
Bloomberg (h/t Gregory)
President George W. Bush told troops at Fort Irwin, California, that the Democratic-led Congress must send him war-funding legislation without ``artificial'' timetables for withdrawing troops from Iraq.
``The clock is ticking for our military,'' Bush told a throng of soldiers after lunch at the base. He said House- and Senate-passed measures that include timetables for pulling out U.S. forces are ``unacceptable'' and the impasse threatens to delay funds needed to train soldiers.
``A strategy that encourages our enemy to wait us out is dangerous,'' he said. ``And it's not going to become law.''
[..]The appearance at Fort Irwin marked another escalation in the confrontation between the president and congressional Democrats over the war. The dispute is evolving into the biggest policy clash between the White House and Congress since 1995, when disputes over spending priorities between the Republican-led Congress and then-President Bill Clinton led to a partial government shutdown.
Bush asserts that funding delays beyond mid-May would compromise combat training and force extended deployments of troops. A Congressional Research Service report last week that said Congress could delay supplemental funding until July without seriously hampering military operations.
Bush called anew for lawmakers to send him their Iraq funding legislation soon so that he can veto it, lawmakers can sustain that veto and then send him a funding measure that makes no mention of withdrawal.[..]
``It's a tough war,'' Bush told the troops today. ``American people are weary of this war, they wonder if we can succeed.'' The stakes are important, he said, because failure could allow ``chaos'' to reign and ``spill out'' into the region, emboldening terrorists.
Bush said half of U.S. reinforcements have arrived in Baghdad and the U.S. must ``stay on offense'' to help Iraqis.
``Defeat, leaving before the job is done,'' would leave the U.S. at risk of further attack, Bush said.
