Congress to Imperil Defence Budget

The lame pithecanthropoid's plans for a new Cold War may hit a bit of a snag next week, as it appears that Congress will vote to cut the defence budget to the tune of the amount required to fund missile bases on Russia's borders. The Senate has already done so, on the communistic and terrorophiliac grounds that the cost is too high, the technology is too uncertain, the threat from Iran (this year's ostensible basis for the whole boondoggle) is too unconvincing and the Great Freedomising Surge in Iraq has swallowed too much money already. Not only that, but the Czech and Polish governments still have not actually agreed to have the missile silos as their honoured guests, much less taken the proposals to their parliaments for ratification. Not every government in the world is sufficiently shoulder to shoulder with the hand of history to seek influence over US policy by cultivating a special relationship, it appears.

The Bush administration has argued that "it would be dangerous to delay because Iran may be further forward in developing its alleged nuclear weapon programme than the rest of the world realises, just as North Korea had been" when North Korea blew up a coal mine and some fish a few months ago. The North Korean nuclear arsenal is apparently slightly smaller than the one used against Japan by somebody or other in 1945; and, according to North Korea, is intended purely for "maintaining peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and surrounding region", just like the slightly larger arsenal held by the Americans, who also have God on their side. Nevertheless, the Bush administration has a problem. What a fragile little country America must be.

If Congress does cut the budget, then in order to be able to carry on playing with his new toys Bush will have to use his veto - overrule Congress much as he overruled the law over Scooter Libby, the real world over Iraq and the American people over the 2000 election - but that, it appears, "would put the whole defence budget in peril". Well, that should be fun.