The New War Money Question

The Progress Report, from The Center for American Progress, which I receive everyday, had this to say about an interesting allegation that Woodward has made in his new book:

"Desperate to tamp down outrage from Congress, the White House and its allies yesterday spun out various responses to Bob Woodward's allegation that the administration secretly took $700 million from the hunt for al Qaeda in Afghanistan and diverted it into Iraq war planning in 2002. Yet no one provided any proof that Woodward's charges were inaccurate. As a new American Progress backgrounder shows, if Woodward's charges are true, the administration's actions not only raise constitutional questions, they also raise statutory questions; federal law required the president to notify Congress before moving any money. While the administration sent two documents to Congress outlining some spending, both the 8/9/02 and 10/17/02 White House notifications in question said nothing about Iraq, instead only mentioning deliberately vague things like 'increased situational awareness' and 'increased worldwide posture.'"

This, I think, is one of the more interesting charges that Woodward makes in his new book, "Plan of Attack." He has pointed out over and over again that it would be a constitutional violation for the administration not to tell Congress about this shifting of funds, but one of the more damning details about this charge is that Woodward claims that one of his sources is a memo, signed by the President, that allows for the spending of this Afghanistan money in Iraq.
Also, there have been a flurry of non-denial denials coming out of the White House about Woodward's charge. The media is just barely whispering about the story, so it hasn't really garnered the kind of attention it deserves. Let's see if the lack of attention makes it go away.

Posted by Paul Hina at April 22, 2004 12:18 PM