"Officials said Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of the leadership had decided to strip from a major military spending bill a requirement for Bush to gain approval from Congress before moving against Iran....Conservative Democrats as well as lawmakers concerned about the possible impact on Israel had argued for the change in strategy.

The developments occurred as Democrats pointed toward an initial test vote in the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday on the overall bill, which would require the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by Sept. 1, 2008, if not earlier."

Dems abandon war authority provision By DAVID ESPO and MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writers Monday March 12, 2007

Can Bush order a U.S. Military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and the defensive installations that protect those facilities without further Congressional authorization? Can he use the blank check the Congress gave him 4 years ago to extend the war to Iran?

Despite their election victories, the Demcrats have never offered any alternative to Bush's management of the Iraq War, and have spent the entire time since the election squabbling among themselves. Now that the Democrats have caved into the Israeli Lobby, there appears to no legal way to stop Bush from implementing his plan to attack Iran and destroy it's nuclear power facilities at the next opportune moment. 

As I said last month, the "surge" is a farce, nothing more then buying time to complete the plan to neutralize Iran's military threat to Israel. The only hope I see is that the "realists" in Bush's war room will convince the President to broker deal that suspends Iran's nuclear enrichment program, and avoid the risk of the plunging the entire mideast into a fighting land war against the U.S. occupation.