Dems Challenge Bush With Iraq Timetable

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070323/us-iraq

Dems Challenge Bush With Iraq Timetable

ANNE FLAHERTY | AP | March 23, 2007 08:32 PM EST

WASHINGTON — The House voted Friday for the first time to clamp a cutoff deadline on the Iraq war, agreeing by a thin margin to pull combat troops out by next year and pushing the new Democratic-led Congress ever closer to a showdown with President Bush.

The 218-212 vote, mostly along party lines, was a hard-fought victory for Democrats, who faced divisions within their own ranks on the rancorous issue. Passage marked their most brazen challenge yet to Bush on a war that has killed more than 3,200 troops and lost favor with the American public.

He dismissed their action as "political theater" and said he would veto the bill if it reached his desk. The Senate is about to take up its own version.

The $124 billion House legislation would pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year but would require that combat troops come home from Iraq before September 2008 _ or earlier if the Iraqi government did not meet certain requirements. Democrats said it was time to heed the mandate of their election sweep last November, which gave them control of Congress.

"The American people have lost faith in the president's conduct of this war," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "The American people see the reality of the war, the president does not."

Just over an hour following the vote, Bush angrily accused Democrats of playing politics and renewed his promise to veto the spending legislation if it included their withdrawal timetable, despite administration claims that the money is needed next month by troops.

more...

[MadMaddie]

1. So here' is my question about *...if August 2008 isn't enough

time to figure out if the surge and the US occcupation is working....wait he wants to keep the troops there until he leaves....no matter how many lives are lost. Bastard!!

[babylonsister]

2. I think the big story is that DEMS CHALLENGE BUSH! When did anyone

EVER see that title prior to November 2006?
And yes, I think he wants to snake out of this whole mess without having to fix it, regardless of the blood, limbs and bodies lost, on both sides.

[MadMaddie]

3. You are right...and they will get more ferocious the more that

* threatens them...

[babylonsister]

4. I think the Dems know there is no retreat, regardless of what *

or his cronies say or do. It's now time to try to fix this mess, with the willingness of the American public. That's a BIG start!

[irish.lambchop]

5. Signing Statement

It's my understanding that if bush were to veto this legislation, it would have to be in totality. What if he signs it and then issues a "signing statement" which, in effect, will allow him to get his funding for the war but then doesn't have to follow the timeline restrictions?