Democrats continue to try and have it both ways on Iraq: they promise their base that they will end the war, and they tell the press that they will definitely fund the troops. The two are mutually exclusive. If you intend to cut off funds for the war, you will have to cut off funds for the troops. You can’t cut down the forest without taking out some trees. Here’s Biden promising–in rather crude terms–to cut off the troops, while in the same breadth promising to fund the purchase of MRAP vehicles:
Remember, it was only a few days ago that Biden promised to ‘have the discipline’ to stop making verbal gaffes:
It’s been said that a gaffe is accidentally saying what you really mean. So is Biden simply saying what he thinks this particular audience wants to hear, or does he really intend to cut off funds for the troops? Biden’s also disingenuous (or misinformed) when talking about the MRAP (a program which the THE WORLDWIDE STANDARD has been boosting for months). Contrary to Biden’s comments, procurement of MRAP vehicles seems to be one of the few Pentagon programs that is largely proceeding without the supplemental funding–just last week, Force Protection, Inc. was awarded a contract valued at half a billion dollars to deliver 1,000 of the vehicles to the Marine Corps (additional contracts valued at some $3 billion have been delayed until the legislation passes). Is that the “crap” to which Biden is referring? There’s no more money for training and equipping Iraqi soldiers–a mission that is critical to getting U.S. soldiers out of harm’s way. Money for the purchase of nonessential repair parts and other supplies has been cut, and the Air Force has been forced to pick up the slack for the underfunded Army by guarding prisoners in Iraq–a job for which those airmen have no training. Are these the funds that Biden is going to shove down the president’s throat?
