Locking Us In

President Bush apparently thinks he has found a way to lock the next administration into a continuation of the Iraq War. By the powers granted to him by God (and not the Constitution) as Commander In Chief and Unitary Executive, he is "negotiating" a treaty with Iraq which will keep US troops in 50 bases around Iraq for, well, forever. Here's what the Netherlands' de Volkskrant had to say:

The Bush administration wants to use 50 military bases in Iraq for an indefinite period of time. Washington also wants to continue to control Iraqi airspace in the future. American military must be able to continue to conduct military operations in Iraq undisturbed and without approval from Iraq.

The U.S. and Iraqi governments are presently secretly negotiating a treaty that will make all this possible. The agreement should be signed by the end of July. This is reported by the British newspaper The Independent on Thursday on the basis of anonymous sources who are knowledgeable of the negotiations.

According to the newspaper, President Bush wants to sign the agreement for a permanent military presence in Iraq before the end of next month. The treaty can thwart Barack Obama’s plans to withdraw the American forces, numbering 141,000, within 16 months after his election.

Washington has always denied that it wants to have permanent bases in Iraq. Both countries have been talking since last year about a “strategic alliance.” The fact that the U.S. wanted to retain such a dominant presence in Iraq for so many years, was not yet known. According to the treaty, American military must also be given immunity for acts committed in Iraq.

Iraqi President al Maliki can't be too happy with such demands, but he also knows that without the US support, his job isn't going to last too long anyway. According to the article, he's been trying to delay any commitment to the plan until after a new administration takes office, but apparently he's getting plenty of pressure from US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and (surprise!) Vice President Dick Cheney.

Now, in the good old days when we had a constitutional form of government and the Senate had to ratify any such treaty, this wouldn't be much of a problem. Congress could simply tell the President "No." Unfortunately, in the bad present, President Bush claims that he can cut such a deal without the Senate's approval by executive order.

Now, given my rather hectic work schedule the past two weeks, I haven't been quite as diligent in my newspaper reading, but I really don't recall much response to the Independent's article. That people in the Netherlands found this news noteworthy leads me to believe that at least Europe is paying attention to the dreadful possibility of the Iraq War continuing well into and beyond the next administration.

They obviously aren't any happier than we DFHs are at that prospect.

227 days.