Separate Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan

As members of Congress return from Thanksgiving recess next week, they will have a list of unfinished business to confront, most pressing of which will be approving funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. While there remains a great deal to debate in regard to funding the war in Iraq, no such disagreement exists in supporting the mission in Afghanistan.

Despite this fact, the Bush administration demands that Congress appropriate war funding for Iraq and Afghanistan collectively - as if they were the same war. This poses a grave dilemma. Despite some recent tactical military success in Iraq, the American people have become disillusioned with the Iraq war and elected the 110th Congress with a mandate to bring U.S. involvement to an end. The debate on conditions Congress wishes to set on the administration's supplemental funding request for Iraq has kept funds from being sent to our troops in both theaters. Consequently, the administration has begun to condemn lawmakers for their ineffectiveness. Some Pentagon leaders have called attention to the delay's effect on military readiness.

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This article was originally published in BaltimoreSun.com.