US war funding heads for vote after Obama boost
8 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Bogged down over the release of detainee abuse photos, a bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was on track Friday for passage in Congress after a late-night intervention by President Barack Obama.

Negotiations between the Senate and the House of Representatives had been at a deadlock Thursday after the Senate introduced a measure banning public release of the controversial images allegedly showing abuse of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hands of US military personnel.

But in a letter to the negotiators, Obama made a last-minute guarantee that he "will continue to take every legal and administrative remedy available to me to ensure the DoD (Department of Defense) detainee photographs are not released."

The president also vowed to petition the Supreme Court to appeal the case, first brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) under the Freedom of Information Act, after a federal appeals court in New York withdrew its order that the government release the images.

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, a former top Democrat in the House, rushed to the Capitol late Thursday to deliver the president's message after Democrats, who enjoy broad majorities in both houses of Congress, suddenly adjourned the talks.

The moves cleared the way for passage of the 106-billion-dollar wartime funding bill, which now faces votes as early as next week in both chambers before being sent to the president to be signed into law. The bill exceeds Obama's request by about 15 billion dollars.

But House Republicans have threatened to oppose the bill over a 108-billion-dollar US line of credit to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help developing countries combat the impact of the global recession.

Anti-war Democrats, meanwhile, had warned they would withhold their votes unless the detainee abuse photo provisions were removed.

The compromise bill also includes provisions on prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, but it does not include the 80 million dollars requested by the Obama administration to close the detention facility at the US naval base in southern Cuba, where about 240 detainees remain.

Under the agreement reached by the Senate and the House, a Democratic source said the government could transfer some prisoners to US soil only to face trial, although the highly sensitive issue of whether they would serve out their sentence in the United States or abroad would be delayed.

The compromise could give a boost to Obama's efforts to close the camp by his self-imposed deadline of January 22, in the face of stiff opposition from US politicians over bringing "war on terror" detainees to the United States and the reluctance of many allies to take in the inmates.

The measure also provides 7.7 billion dollars to combat the A(H1N1) flu virus, as the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a swine flu pandemic Thursday.

And it includes 10.4 billion dollars in foreign aid, principally targeted to promote economic development and counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.

Pakistan would namely receive 700 million to help its security forces combat Taliban insurgents flowing across the border with Afghanistan and another 700 million to support food security, governance and economic development.

Lawmakers whose states are home to the beleaguered auto industry also won a one-billion-dollar "cash for clunkers" program, which provides consumers with vouchers to trade in gas-guzzling vehicles for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

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