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Congress OKs Iraq, Afghanistan Funding
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By ALAN FRAM

WASHINGTON - Congress voted its final approval Monday for $87.5 billion for U.S. military operations and aid in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites).

Handing a legislative victory to President Bush (news - web sites) a day after Americans in Iraq endured their worst casualties since March, the Senate approved the bill by voice vote, sidestepping the roll call that usually accompanies major legislation.

That underscored the complicated political calculus presented by the measure, which was dominated by popular funds for U.S. forces but also sparked questions about Bush's postwar Iraq policies and record budget deficits at home. Sidenote - this mess amounts to "shady voting"

"As the president said time and time again, we will not walk away from Iraq," said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, a leading author of the bill. "We will not leave the Iraqi people in chaos, and we will not create a vacuum for terrorist groups to fill."

In the latest blow to Iraq's U.S. occupiers, 19 American troops were killed there on Sunday. That included 16 who died when a missile brought down a U.S. Army transport helicopter west of Baghdad, a crash in which 21 other Americans were wounded.

That shoot-down allowed critics of Bush's leadership of the Iraq war to argue anew that he should have done more to win commitments of troops and resources from other countries.

"Every day, when we see these bloody headlines of American soldiers being killed, we are reminded that had this been a global coalition, ... what we're facing today could have been so much different," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Even so, Durbin and several others who criticized Bush during Monday's debate said they would support the bill as the best way to protect U.S. troops and expedite the day when Americans can leave Iraq.

One who said he opposed the bill was Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, top Democrat on the Appropriations panel. In some of the day's strongest words, Byrd called the bill a "monument to failure," citing the lack of help from allies and persistent U.S. casualties.

The measure was the second massive package for Iraq and combating terror that Bush has requested and Congress has produced in less than seven months.

In April, they enacted a $79 billion package that included $62.4 billion for the war in Iraq, which had just begun, plus other money for Afghanistan, tightened security at home and help for financially ailing U.S. airlines.

The House cleared the most recent bill Friday by 298-121. Most of its money is for the federal budget year that runs through Sept. 30, though some of it is for a longer term.

Largely following the outlines of an $87 billion package that Bush requested on Sept. 7, the bill includes $64.7 billion for U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Most of that — $51 billion — was for American troops in Iraq, while another $10 billion was for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The money includes everything from salaries owed reservists called to active duty to buying aircraft parts, missiles and thousands of extra sets of body armor for ground troops.

In the starkest departure from Bush's proposal, there is $18.6 billion — $1.7 billion below the president's plan — for retooling Iraq's economy and government. This included funds for clinics, power and water supplies and training police officers and entrepreneurs.

Dropped, however, was money that critics said was wasteful or at least not needed urgently. This included money Bush wanted for ZIP and telephone area codes; a children's hospital in Basra, which is patrolled by British troops; sanitation trucks; and restoration of drained marshlands.

Though Bush got less than he wanted for Iraqi aid, the White House fended off lawmakers of both parties who had forced a provision through the Senate making half the aid to Iraq a loan.

House-Senate bargainers killed that language last week, leaving the aid a grant that Baghdad will not have to repay.

The bill also has $1.2 billion for buttressing Afghanistan; $500 million for helping victims of U.S. natural disasters, such as Hurricane Isabel and California's wildfires; and $245 million for international peacekeeping efforts in Liberia (news - web sites).

Money also was included to expand Arabic-language broadcasts into Iraq, secure U.S. diplomats in Iraq and Afghanistan, provide rewards for the capture of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and aid Pakistan and other U.S. allies.

Senate Democrats staged a hearing of their own to underline the exclusion of a Senate-passed provision setting criminal penalties for war profiteering.

A business consultant told the lawmakers that U.S. taxpayers are paying excessive reconstruction costs because small- and medium-sized Iraqi businesses that win contracts are charged exorbitant interest rates by Iraq's most powerful families. The consultant, Timothy Mill, urged the creation of a lending fund from $500 million in seized Iraqi assets.

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So basically, this passed because mofos were playing off the sympathies generated from the soldiers that died in the Chinock helicopter disaster.