Bush Vetoes War Funding Bill

As good as his word, President Bush made short work of vetoing the war appropriations bill Congress put on his desk today, objecting to its provision for a strict timetable for pulling the troop out of Iraq. With the veto a fait accompli for weeks, lawmakers are already girding to develop a compromise.

Bush told a coalition assembly that the bill would have "risked turning Iraq into a cauldron of chaos," reiterating that a fixed end date would succor the enemy. The $124 billion funding bill was timed for the fourth anniversary of Bush's "mission accomplished" speech, and many Democrats are arguing that the president remains, as Harry Reid put it, "in denial" about Iraq. (More Iraq pullout stories.)