Bush Veto and the Economy

For the second time since George W. Bush became president, members of the U.S. military who were captured by Iraqi forces before the military onslaught nicknamed “Desert Storm” (January- February 1991) destroyed Saddam Hussein’s army, are about to be denied their day in court. A number of those captured have been trying to get civil suits through the U.S. judicial system alleging mistreatment (could they really have been tortured?) by the Iraqis in contravention of the Geneva Convention and the UN Convention Against Torture.

They will be denied this right because President Bush has acceded to Baghdad’s objection to allowing the suits to proceed because the regime of Nouri al-Maliki might be found liable for the mistreatment as the successor to Saddam Hussein. Specifically, al-Maliki threatened to remove $25 billion in Iraqi funds from U.S. banks to preclude seizure of the assets in the event of an adverse judgment in a trial.

Does not this cave-in by the White House bespeak something else – the precarious state of the U.S. economy? In a $13 Trillion economy, $25 million is chump-change.

What is the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the Bush administration hiding?