Editorial: It’s their party

Friday, Oct. 6, 2006 | 7:43 a.m.

The Taliban are seeing a resurgence in Afghanistan, and Iraq is on the verge of civil war, yet Congress has approved $20 million for a victory party to celebrate success in both countries - just in case.

The funding measure, which was tagged onto the defense spending bill Congress passed last week, was introduced by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. According to The New York Times, McConnell promoted the bill because those who returned from fighting in Vietnam "had to sneak back in and were spit upon." So money was set aside for a "commemoration for success."

Perhaps Congress should have put the money in a CD, where it could at least earn some interest while U.S. soldiers wait for Bush administration officials to figure out how they are going to find success in either Afghanistan or Iraq.

Before Congress orders cases of champagne and brings back President Bush's "Mission Accomplished" banner, it should remember that Iraqi officials earlier this week decommissioned a 700-member Iraqi police brigade that is under investigation for "possible complicity" with militia death squads. And as Iraq teeters on civil war, the Taliban are regaining strength in Afghanistan, where about 100 suicide attacks and 3,000 deaths have been reported so far this year.

The 140,000 U.S. troops stuck in Iraq without proper equipment and no hope of coming home until at least next year don't need party planners. They need a winning military strategy.

Congress and the Bush administration can't seem to give them that, but a victory party? Well, they've got that all figured out.