US President George W. Bush today reiterated his stand that he has the sole authority to run the war and the only job for the Congress is to fund it, after it emerged that the Iraqi government had failed half of the 18 benchmarks contained in the Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act.
"I don't think Congress ought to be running the war," Bush said at a press briefing. "I think they ought to be funding our troops."
"Congress has all the right in the world to fund. That's their main involvement in this war, which is to provide funds for our troops," he re-emphasised.
Bush dismissed the results of the report saying that it was written less than a month after the full complement of the Surge troops arrived.
"I went to the country in January and said I have made this decision," the President added. "I said what was happening on the ground was unsatisfactory in Iraq. In consultation with a lot of folks, I came to the conclusion that we needed to send more troops into Iraq, not less, in order to provide stability, in order to be able to enhance the security of the people there."
Bush declared that he will wait until the full report arrives from David Petraeus before making any further decisions.
"I will repeat, as the Commander-in-Chief of a great military who has supported this military and will continue to support this military, not only with my -- with insisting that we get resources to them, but with -- by respecting the command structure, I'm going to wait for David to come back -- David Petraeus to come back and give us the report on what he sees," he said.
Bush used the term "Commander-in-Chief" seven times to refer to himself during the briefing.
He said he will disregard US citizens view on Iraq on the grounds that the troops do not want "their Commander-in-Chief making decisions based upon popularity."
Bush denied that he let the al-Qaeda into the country and blamed Saddam Hussein for the war.
"I was hoping to solve the Iraqi issue diplomatically," the President replied when asked whether he understood that the US let al-Qaeda into Iraq. "That's why I went to the United Nations and worked with the United Nations Security Council, which unanimously passed a resolution that said disclose, disarm or face serious consequences. That was the message, the clear message to Saddam Hussein. He chose the course."
The US Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 requires that the President submit to Congress two reports assessing the status of each of the 18 benchmarks contained in the Act.
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