Iraq War Signing Statements

by Brian Beutler, The Media Consortium: Tue., Jan 29, 2008

CQ reports:

President Bush signed the fiscal 2008 Defense authorization bill into law Monday, but not before stating that he reserves the right to disregard several sections.

One such provision sets up a commission to probe contracting fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another expands protections for whistleblowers who work for government contractors. A third requires that U.S. intelligence agencies promptly respond to congressional requests for documents. And a fourth bars funding for permanent bases in Iraq and for any action that exercises U.S. control over Iraq’s oil money.

All of these are significant provisions to just ignore. But that last one touches upon an issue I wrote about last week. In his Memorandum of Justification for ignoring the ban on permanent bases, President Bush refers to his intent to promise the Iraqi government military support for years to come:

The November 26, 2007, Declaration of Principles for a Long-Term Relationship of Cooperation and Friendship between the Republic of Iraq and the United States of America confirmed the commitment of the United States and Iraq to build an enduring relationship in the political, diplomatic, economic, and security arenas and to work together to combat all terrorist groups, including al-Qaida.

Forget the small matter that such a commitment has virtually no popular or political support. What we’re observing is what happens when a series of constitutionally questionable policies meets almost no resistance from congress–each layer comes to serve as justification for (and reinforcement of) the next, until finally we come full circle: The war leads to the bases. The bases inflame the insurgency. The insurgency is used as an argument for the surge. The surge creates the environment for the Declaration of Principles, which are cited as justification for the permanence of the bases, and, therefore of the permanence of the war. And round and round we go.