Hill Reeling From Iraq Debate

With Midterm Elections Looming, Lawmakers Fear Backlash Over Public Clash

(CBS/AP) 
Republicans hoped to place Democrats in an unappealing position: either supporting a withdrawal that critics said would be precipitous or opposing it and angering voters who want an end to the conflict. They also hoped the vote could restore Republican momentum on an issue, the war, that has seen plummeting public support in recent weeks.

Democrats claimed Republicans were changing the meaning of Murtha's withdrawal proposal. He has said a smooth withdrawal would take six months.

At one point in the emotional debate, Rep. Jean Schmidt, a Republican, told of a phone call she received from a Marine colonel.

"He asked me to send Congress a message: stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do," Schmidt said. Murtha is a 37-year Marine veteran.

Democrats booed and shouted her down, causing the House to come to a standstill.

Chen reports that normally low-key Congressman Harold Ford, D-Tenn., stormed across the chamber's center aisle, screaming over to the Republican side of the floor – before fellow Democrats pulled him away. "You guys are pathetic! Pathetic!" yelled Rep. Marty Meehan, a Democrat.

Democrats gave Murtha a standing ovation as he entered the chamber and took his customary corner seat.

The fireworks, as lawmakers rushed toward a two-week Thanksgiving break, came just days after the Republican-controlled Senate defeated a Democratic push for Mr. Bush to lay out a timetable for withdrawal. Spotlighting questions from both parties about the war, senators approved a statement that 2006 should be a significant year in which conditions are created for the phased withdrawal of U.S. forces.

Murtha has proposed his own resolution that would force the president to withdraw the nearly 160,000 troops in Iraq "at the earliest practicable date." It would establish a quick-reaction force and a nearby presence of Marines in the region. It also said the U.S. must pursue stability in Iraq through diplomacy.

The Republican alternative simply said: "It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately."

"It's just heinous," Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a Democrat, said of the Republican move.

"This is a personal attack on one of the best members, one of the most respected members of this House and it is outrageous," said Rep. Jim McGovern, a Democrat.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, however, said the resolution vote was not a stunt. "This is not an attack on an individual. This is a legitimate question."

"They've been itching for a fight for a long time," Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, said of the Democrats.

Most Republicans oppose Murtha's call for withdrawal, and some Democrats also have been reluctant to back his position.

Three Democrats, Jose Serrano of New York, Robert Wexler of Florida and Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, voted for withdrawal. Six voted present: Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, Jerrold Nadler of New York, Maurice Hinchey of New York, Michael Capuano of Massachusetts, Major Owens of New York and William Lacy Clay of Missouri.

Aware of the scene unfolding across Capitol Hill, Sen. John Warner, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, appealed for "bipartisanship on the war in Iraq, instead of more political posturing."

A growing number of House members and senators, looking ahead to off-year elections next November, are publicly worrying about a quagmire in Iraq. They have been staking out new positions on a war that is increasingly unpopular with the American public, has resulted in more than 2,000 U.S. military deaths and has cost more than $200 billion.