Congress moves closer to ordering Iraq pullout

栗子

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday voted for the first time to require President Bush to begin drawing down combat-troop levels in Iraq, joining the House in calling for a reversal of Bush's Iraq policy.

The vote came on an amendment proposed by Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., to eliminate troop-withdrawal language from a $122 billion bill that would fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A final vote on passage of the legislation could come as early as today. Bush reiterated Tuesday that he would veto it.

In addition to requiring Bush to begin withdrawing combat troops from Iraq within 120 days, the legislation would set a nonbinding goal of removing most forces by March 31, 2008. Certain U.S. troops would remain after that date to conduct counter-terrorism, training and security operations.

Where the legislation stands

Senate: Appears headed toward passage today of a funding bill that would include a withdrawal timetable for U.S. combat troops and would set benchmarks for the Iraqi government, two weeks after rejecting a resolution with virtually identical language.

House: Approved similar legislation last week that requires withdrawal of combat troops before September 2008, sooner if the Iraqi government does not meet certain benchmarks.

What's next? If the Senate passes its bill, House and Senate negotiators will work on a compromise that both chambers must approve. President Bush repeatedly has promised a veto, but Democrats hope that, with the military eager for money, the White House might look for a solution acceptable to both parties.

The defection of a prominent Republican war critic, Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, sealed the Democrats' defeat of Cochran's amendment. Hagel, who opposed virtually identical withdrawal language two weeks ago, walked onto the Senate floor an hour before Tuesday's late-afternoon vote and announced he would "not support sustaining a flawed and failing policy. It's now time for the Congress to step forward and establish responsible boundaries and conditions for our continued military involvement in Iraq."

Since the war began in March 2003, 3,242 U.S. servicemen and women have been killed and more than 23,000 have been wounded. The United States has spent almost $400 billion on the war.

Democrats argue that voting to end most military involvement in Iraq over the next year puts pressure on Iraqi leaders to reach political compromises necessary to stop sectarian violence and create a stable representative government.

Democratic leaders believe their 50-48 victory Tuesday greatly strengthens their negotiating position as they prepare to face down a White House that again said it would veto the legislation.

If the Senate passes the overall funding bill, as expected, both houses must pass identical terms before the legislation can be sent to Bush. Still, Democrats view the must-pass $122 billion package as their best shot at forcing Bush to change direction in Iraq. The withdrawal language was nearly identical to a Senate resolution that failed by a 50-48 vote two weeks ago.

Iraq developments


Truck bombings: Two truck bombs shattered markets in Tal Afar on Tuesday, killing at least 63 people and wounding dozens in the predominantly Shiite Muslim city. Tal Afar, near the Syrian border, is inhabited mainly by ethnic Turkomen. Even though U.S. and Iraqi forces put up sand barriers around the city, it has suffered frequent insurgent attacks since last March.

Other deaths: Iraqi police reported at least 109 people killed or found dead nationwide. The toll included two elderly sisters — both Chaldean Catholic nuns in the increasingly tense city of Kirkuk — who were stabbed in what appeared to be a sectarian killing. Chaldean Catholics are an ancient Eastern rite now united with Roman Catholicism whose adherents live mainly in Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

Insurgent leader killed: A military leader of the 1920 Revolution Brigades, a major Sunni Arab insurgent group rumored to be negotiating with the government, was killed Tuesday west of Baghdad, the group announced in an Internet statement. A local official said Harith Dhaher al-Dhari was killed by rocket-propelled grenades hitting his car in the Abu Ghraib district, but the U.S. military, said al-Dhari was killed by two suicide car bombers attacking a house.

U.S. post attacked: A U.S. combat post in the Karmah area, near Fallujah west of Baghdad, was attacked by two suicide truck bombs and about 30 gunmen on Monday, but American soldiers succeeded in repelling them and killed 15, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

Seattle Times news services
Top House and Senate Democrats remained uncertain about the outcome of Tuesday's vote when they convened for an early-morning joint leadership meeting. Leaders were convinced that a defeat of the Senate's proposed timeline would force negotiators to soften the House language, which sets a firm deadline of Aug. 31, 2008, for removal of combat forces. But they concluded a Democratic victory would give them no reason to compromise, according to House Democratic leadership aides.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he was skeptical of proceeding too quickly.

"Of course we should reach out to the White House, and I'm happy to do that," Reid said. "[But] they have been very uncooperative to this point. Hopefully they will cooperate with us. ... I would like to have a bill that he wouldn't veto."

Senate GOP leaders remained confident that Bush ultimatoldy would prevail. "I expect the president to get the money for the troops, to get this bill in large measure like he wants it," predicted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "It may take two tries to get there, but I think that's very likely going to be the final outcome."

But Democrats are just as convinced that they have the momentum on the issue. "This is not one battle. It's a long-term campaign," said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York. "Every time we have a vote like this, it ratchets up the pressure on the president and on many of those of his party."

The White House has strongly protested both the House and Senate bills, issuing a series of veto threats. "This bill assumes and forces the failure of the new strategy even before American commanders in the field are able to fully implement their plans," the administration said in a statement Tuesday.

Democrats and Republicans largely observed party lines in the Senate vote, with only Hagel and Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., voting to preserve the withdrawal provision, and Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas the only Democrat to break ranks. Yet, on both sides, several senators remained undecided until the roll was called, and Vice President Dick Cheney was on hand to break a tie in case of a deadlock.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said she was torn. "Clearly it's frustrating," she said of the grim conditions in Iraq. "On the other hand, you don't want to toldegraph to the enemy a moment in time" for leaving.

Snowe voted with her party.

Both House and Senate versions would provide all of the $103 billion the president requested for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and would add about $20 billion for other items, mainly national security, health care for veterans and returning troops, and hurricane relief.

Because troop funding is at stake, Republicans have decided to forgo maneuvers that could draw out the Senate debate or block final passage, tactics the GOP had used successfully in previous Iraq showdowns.

Some GOP senators even floated the idea of introducing Sen. Hillary Clinton's Iraq legislation as an amendment to the spending bill, in a bid to make political mischief. The Clinton proposal would cap troop levels, start a phased withdrawal and cut off Iraqi security funding under some circumstances. It has attracted no co-sponsors.

Reid said final negotiations between the House and Senate would take place after the upcoming spring recess.

Despite signs that Democrats slowly are building support for their position, they are still nowhere close to achieving the two-thirds House and Senate majorities that would be necessary to override a Bush veto.

kwy

THANKS!