Bush, Congress in political war over Iraq

UNITED STATES: US President George W. Bush and Democrats looking to pull US troops from Iraq waged a pitiless war of words Tuesday over a bill that funds the conflict but aims for an April 1, 2008 withdrawal.

Democrats vowed to get the legislation to Bush’s desk by Monday. The president promised to veto the measure. It was unclear what would happen after that to the 120-billion-dollar spending plan.

Perhaps the fiercest salvo was Vice President Dick Cheney’s accusation that Democrats had made cynical political calculations in seeking to end the war. That prompted Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to dismiss Cheney as an “attack dog.”

“It is cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage,” Cheney said. “Leaders should make decisions based on the security interests of our country, not on the interests of their political party.”

“We believe there must be a change of direction in the war in Iraq,” Reid fired back. “I’m not going to get into a name-calling match with somebody who has a nine-percent approval rating.”

“And so, I’m not going to get into a name-calling match with the administration’s chief attack dog,” said the senator, who drew fire from Republicans last week for declaring that the Iraq war is “lost.”

Democrats, who took control of the US Congress in part thanks to deep US public anger at the four-year-old Iraq conflict, expected to send Bush the legislation by Monday but appeared to lack the votes to override his veto.

“Precipitous withdrawal from Iraq is not a plan to bring peace to the region or to make our people safer at home. Instead, it would embolden our enemies and confirm their belief that America is weak,” warned the president.

The 124.2 billion dollar bill — compromise legislation hammered out between House and Senate negotiators late Monday — calls for withdrawal of most US combat forces from Iraq beginning no later than October 1, 2007, with a non-binding goal for completing the pullout by April 1, 2008.

Under the bill, the pullout would begin on July 1 if the Pentagon cannot certify Iraqi progress in disarming militias, reducing sectarian violence and resolving political differences among the various Iraqi factions.

With a razor-thin majority in Congress, Democrats said they were well aware that they lack the votes to overcome Bush’s threatened veto, and already were preparing for the next round of negotiations.

“The president has indicated he intends to veto this legislation. I wish that that were not so,” said Representative David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee at a press conference Monday.

“But if it is, the best thing that we can do ... is to get this to the president as quickly as possible, so that he can take whatever action he deems necessary so that we can again get about the business of compromising.” Standing on the south lawn of the White House, Bush said he knew that the US public has “serious concerns” about the war, and that “people want our troops to come home, and so do I.”

But Bush warned against letting “politics and impatience” drive strategy and stressed: “No matter how frustrating the fight can be, and no matter how much we wish the war was over, the security of our country depends directly on the outcome in Iraq.”

Democrats later released quotations from five retired US generals speaking out in favor of the legislation, which also also provides funding for troop and veteran health care as well as for recovery of the hurricane-ravaged US Gulf Coast.

“I’m disappointed that the Democratic leadership has chosen this course,” he said. “They know I’m going to veto a bill containing these provisions, and they know that my veto will be sustained.”

Washington, Wednesday, afp.