US House defies Bush

2007-11-15 13:15

Washington - The Democratic-led House of Representatives defied a White House veto threat on Wednesday and inserted timelines for an immediate troop withdrawal in a $50bn Iraq war funding bill.

The House voted 218 to 203 to pass the emergency war budget, calling for a pullback of most combat troops to start within 30 days, with a goal of completion by December 15 2008.

President George W Bush, who has thwarted every previous Democratic attempt to change his war policy, has repeatedly warned he will never accept mandated troop withdrawal timelines.

The vote, the latest drama in a prolonged showdown between Bush and Democrats over the war, was largely symbolic, however, as the bill is considered dead on arrival in the Senate.

"All of us here want to succeed in Iraq. All of us here want to make our nation and the American people safer," said Senate Democratic Majority leader Steny Hoyer.

"But after more than four and one-half years of pursuing the president's failing stay-the-course strategy, we are not achieving either objective."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi added: "How much longer should we expect our young people to risk their lives, their limbs, their families, for an Iraqi government that is not willing to step up to the plate?"

But White House press secretary Dana Perino accused the Democrats of taking the war debate "down a well-worn path that calls for arbitrary withdrawal from the battlefield, despite the gains our military has made over the past year".

Strongest Iraq bill to date

"These votes, like the dozens of previous failed votes, put the interests of radical interest groups ahead of the needs of our military and their mission," she said, adding Bush would veto the bill if it reached his desk.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates had earlier held closed-door briefings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

There had been suggestions the war funding bill might founder on the opposition of liberal and fiercely anti-war Democratic members of the House, but they decided to back it, boosting its chances.

"While this bill is not perfect, it is the strongest Iraq bill to date," said three key anti-war lawmakers, Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters.

"This is a concrete step in the right direction, and an important marker for this Congress to lay down."

The bill would require Bush to transition the mission in Iraq from combat operations to supporting Iraqi security forces and protecting US diplomatic facilities.

It would also ban the use of torture and defer the rest of Bush's $196bn request for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The funding would run out after four months.

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid warned on Tuesday that if the bill did not pass the Senate, Bush would not get any more money for the war this year.

That would force the Pentagon to dip into its current operating budget to finance the operations.

- AFP