Congress tells Bush: Get us out of Iraq

WASHINGTON — A defiant, Democratic-controlled Senate approved legislation Thursday calling for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq within a year, propelling Congress closer to a wartime veto confrontation with President Bush.

The 51-47 vote was largely along party lines, and like House passage of a separate, more sweeping challenge to the administration's war policies a week ago, fell far short of the two-thirds majority needed to overturn the president's threatened veto. The Senate's $122 billion war-spending bill calls for the withdrawal of most U.S. forces from Iraq by March 31, 2008.

Bush on Thursday summoned Republican allies to his side in an effort to shift momentum in the escalating battle over the war. Bush, who has alienated many Republicans on Capitol Hill, invited the entire House GOP caucus to the White House for the first time in his presidency.

"We stand united in saying loud and clear that when we've got a troop in harm's way, we expect that troop to be fully funded," Bush, surrounded by GOP lawmakers, said at the White House. "And we've got commanders making tough decisions on the ground. We expect there to be no strings on our commanders."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said it was Bush who would pay the price if a veto fight slows funding for the military, including billions of dollars for veterans health care and other benefits. "If the president vetoes this bill, it is an asterisk in history," Reid said. "He sets the record of undermining the troops more than any president we've ever had."

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, disagreed. "Nothing good can come from this bill," he said. "It's loaded with pork that has no relation to our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it includes a deadline for evacuation that amounts to sending a 'Save the Date' card to al-Qaida."

The executive and legislative branches appear headed toward a high-stakes collision, with neither side showing signs of backing down. Both sides appear to be relishing the confrontation to some extent, gambling that they can outmaneuver the other, galvanize the most passionate forces in their own parties, win over public opinion and force an eventual resolution on their own terms.

Before Bush can veto the bill, Democrats must produce a final version, a potentially tricky exercise, given the wide-ranging views within the party.

The House-passed measure requires the withdrawal of combat troops by Sept. 1, 2008. The Senate bill mandates the beginning of a withdrawal within 120 days and sets a nonbinding goal of March 2008, for its completion.

Both bills contain more than $90 billion for the military to continue operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, where more than 3,200 U.S. troops have died in more than four years of combat. Money for domestic programs pushes the measures' totals above $120 billion.

Anti-war Democrats in the House, who want troops withdrawn as soon as possible, are balking at the weaker Senate language, which sets a goal rather than a firm pullout deadline, as the House version does. Some Senate Democrats said they would resist the House deadline.

But Congress leaves town Saturday for a recess, with the House not returning until April 16. Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a House panel a delay in funding would force the Army to curtail training and equipment repair necessary to ready units for deployment, which could lead forces in Iraq and Afghanistan to have their tours of duty lengthened.

If the money does not arrive in time, the Army would have to begin to curtail spending on National Guard, reserve and active units at home to give priority to soldiers fighting overseas, according to Pace and senior Army officials.

As he appeared with Republican lawmakers at the White House Thursday, Bush was following the same tactic employed by President Clinton during his moment of political peril. On the day he was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice in the Monica Lewinsky case in 1998, Clinton summoned the entire House Democratic caucus to the White House to dispel the impression that the incident had left him isolated politically.

Although many Republicans in Congress harbor doubts about the president's course in Iraq, they have backed him so far in voting against Democratic proposals to change direction.

Just two Senate Republicans voted for the spending-and-pullout measure Thursday, Chuck Hagel, of Nebraska, and Gordon Smith, of Oregon, joining 48 Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent. The votes in opposition were cast by 46 Republicans and Sen. Joe Lieberman, of Connecticut, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., missed the vote because of a family emergency; Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., is recovering from surgery.

There was no suspense in the Senate's vote, after a test earlier this week in which Republicans had sought to strip out the nonbinding timeline for a troop withdrawal.

Bush spent much of the closed-door meeting with House Republicans pressing an issue that many conservatives have latched onto as a unifying force: the pork in the spending bills unrelated to the war.

The bill includes billions of dollars for domestic priorities, such as Hurricane Katrina aid, agricultural disaster relief and $100 million for security at the 2008 Republican and Democratic conventions.

"I think we would be able to sustain a veto on that basis alone," said Sen. Trent Lott, of Mississippi, the second-ranking Republican.

Bush spent much of his talk stressing that he believes in the ideals of freedom and democracy for Iraq and exhorted lawmakers to disregard the polls and the editorial pages that have scoffed at those notions.

While many Republicans cheered the president, others sat skeptically silent, the Republicans said. As one lawmaker put it, when Republicans in difficult swing districts lose a tough election, lawmakers can stay with the president and his policy. But now, Democrats are targeting Republican veterans, such as Reps. Bill "C.W." Young, of Florida, and Ralph Regula, of Ohio, largely over their Iraq votes.

"When guys like that have a big target on their back, everyone starts to worry," said one Republican congressman, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the private meeting.

If the war funding is approved, Congress will have appropriated $448 billion for the war in Iraq, including $38 billion for rebuilding the country.

Polls show nearly 60 percent of Americans support legislation setting an end date to U.S. involvement in the war.

Compiled from The Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers and Gannett News Service