Drawing the old line in the sand, the House on Wednesday approved a plan for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq.
Despite a firm promise by President Bush to veto any bill that sets a time line for troop withdrawals from Iraq, House leader Nancy Pelosi gleefully announced a House bill that calls for a planned withdraw of U.S. troops from Iraq.
Gen. David Petraeus made a pitch to House lawmakers to give him more time to show the troop 'surge' in Iraq was working, but this plea in a closed House meeting was all but ignored by the Democrat led House. Gen. Petraeus is the top army general running U.S. operations in Iraq.
The 124 billion dollar troop funding bill was narrowly passed by a vote of 218-208. In addition to funding U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, this bills also calls for U.S. troop withdrawals beginning in October of this year.
This House bill next moves to the Senate for debate. With Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev, all ready conceding defeat in Iraq, this bill will most likely pass the Senate before heading to the desk of President Bush.
President Bush has called for this bill to be quickly passed by the Senate so he can veto the bill and move on to more serious debate about troop funding before it is too late.
President Bush said he is willing to compromise with Democrats on a troop funding bill;however, President Bush said any bill involving a troop withdraw time line will be shot down because he believes any troop movement strategy is best left to the commanders in the field.
However, the Democrats were happy to point out a recent poll showing most Americans agree with them on this issue and believe victory in Iraq is no longer possible. This poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal indicates that only 37 percent of the American public sided with Bush and his Republicans in believing that Congress should not set a deadline for troop withdrawal, but 55 percent supported the Democrats view calling for a timetable.
The bill passed by the House provides more troop funding than the administration sought for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, but says US troops are to start withdrawing from Iraq in October, with a non-binding target date of completing the pullout by March 31.
Meanwhile, during his closed door meeting in the House, Gen.Petraeus asked lawmakers to withhold judgment on the new Iraq strategy-- sending 28,000 additional troops--despite a spike in violence including in Diyala on Monday where nine US troops were killed.
Gen. Petraeus was quick to point out the progress being made in Iraq since the troop surge was announced in January. Gen. Petraeus noted the positives of this new strategy talking about the killing Friday of an Al-Qaeda kingpin, identified by the US command as the "security emir" for the east of Anbar province, and he also pointed to the capture of the head of an important weapons network that may lead to more evidence about Iranian involvement in the conflict.
Funding for the troops will eventually be passed by and approved by President Bush. However, what exactly this bill will include is still up in the air. One possible solution making the rounds hints at Democrats releasing funds one small chunk at a time to keep the Iraq debate at the center of political dialogue. Another possible solution being circulated hints at Democrats imposing certain targets showing improvement in Iraq which will force the administration to justify progress it says is being made.
Read more about the Democrats troop plans at Yahoo News
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