WASHINGTON, Feb. 16, 2007

House Rebukes Bush On Iraq

By 246-182, House Passes Nonbinding Resolution Criticizing Troop Buildup

  • Play CBS Video Video House Rebukes Bush Plan

    The House passed a non-binding resolution that says it disapproves President Bush's decision to send more troops to Iraq. Sharyl Attkisson reports on the voting trends seen in the House today.

  • Video Analyzing The House Resolution

    Jim Axelrod tells Katie Couric that the Democrats say they want to support the troops, which mean funding them, and that is all that matters to the White House.

  • Video House Nears Vote On War Plan

    House lawmakers are prepared to pass a resolution critical of President Bush's troop surge in Iraq. Susan Roberts reports.

    • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at podium, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Feb. 16, 2007, following a vote on a non-binding resolution on the Iraq war. From left are, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Md., Pelosi, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo.

      House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at podium, speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Feb. 16, 2007, following a vote on a non-binding resolution on the Iraq war. From left are, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Md., Pelosi, Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo.  (AP)

    • Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., left, has called a test vote for Saturday on a resolution on Iraq identical to the one approved in the House. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., is at Reid's side.

      Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., left, has called a test vote for Saturday on a resolution on Iraq identical to the one approved in the House. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., is at Reid's side.  (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

    • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks about Iraq during an address on the floor of the House on Capitol Hill on Feb. 16, 2007.

      House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks about Iraq during an address on the floor of the House on Capitol Hill on Feb. 16, 2007.  (AP /APTN)

    • This video image provided by APTN shows House Speaker Nancy Pelosi banging the gavel on the floor of the House on Capitol Hill on Feb. 16, 2007, at the conclusion of a House vote on Iraq.

      This video image provided by APTN shows House Speaker Nancy Pelosi banging the gavel on the floor of the House on Capitol Hill on Feb. 16, 2007, at the conclusion of a House vote on Iraq.  (AP)

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  • Who's Who Congress Reacts To Plan

    Reaction to President Bush's new Iraq stategy, which includes an increase in troops.

  • Interactive New Plan For Iraq

    Key elements of the plan, excerpts from the president's speech, reaction and more.

(CBS/AP)  "Suppose you start to see signs of success," Snow told reporters before the vote. "Then, are these members going to come out and say 'We were wrong.' Are they going to have another resolution?"

What has the White House worried, Snow said, is that this resolution might lead to a binding measure to cut off funding or restrict deployments of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Friday's vote came at a time of growing public weariness over the war.

More than half of those surveyed say the Iraq war is a hopeless cause, according to an AP-Ipsos poll released Friday. A total of 38 percent wants to cut money for the additional troops that President Bush is sending to Iraq, and 29 percent want to cut off all funding for the war.

Their vote against the president's troop increase was purely symbolic, but Attkisson reports Democrats are now focusing on the next step: binding actions to halt the surge.

Rep. John Murtha, head of the powerful House committee that approves funding for the war, is the lead architect of the new plan.

"The real vote will come on this legislation I'm putting together," Murtha, D-Pa., said Thursday.

Murtha's legislation would set strict conditions on combat deployments, including a year rest between combat tours; ultimately, the congressman says, his measure would make it impossible for President Bush to maintain his planned deployment of a total of about 160,000 troops for months on end.

"If they can't extend people, if they can't send people back that don't have equipment and so forth, they can't continue the surge is what it amounts to," Murtha said.

Murtha's proposal also might block the funding of military operations inside Iran — a measure intended to send a signal to Mr. Bush that he will need Congress' blessing if he is planning another war.

"The president could veto it, but then he wouldn't have any money," Murtha told an anti-war group in an interview broadcast on movecongress.org.

In a speech Thursday, Mr. Bush said he expects Congress to live up to its promise to support the troops.

"We have a responsibility, Republicans and Democrats have a responsibility, to give our troops the resources they need to do their job and the flexibility they need to prevail," Mr. Bush said.


© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Add a Comment See all 503 Comments
by htjr February 18, 2007 3:00 AM EST
Since my original comment was too long I'll leave it at this.

The world has eyes and is laughing at us, we should laugh along with them because we voted for this abomination more than once.
Reply to this comment
by scott4261 February 17, 2007 9:25 PM EST
Ya know...I keep on hoping I will wake up and this whole presidency, from the Florida fiasco to 9/11 to the war to the s c r e w i n g of the poor - all of it - I keep hoping I will wake up from this BAD DREAM that never seems to end! These guys are pure evil and I just pray that our country and the world survive until they are out of office. Then, maybe - just maybe - we can save both.
Reply to this comment
by bluestardad February 17, 2007 8:01 PM EST
If you like the Bush Surge this is for you!

http://www.carlosmencia.com/content/videos.php?id=66
Reply to this comment
by bluestardad February 17, 2007 7:59 PM EST
Well Done House! Start Impeachment of Bush and Cheney now!
Reply to this comment
by j-whitman February 17, 2007 7:35 PM EST
I see Bush got 2 moles removed from his head -- Cheney & Rumsfeild
Reply to this comment
by j-whitman February 17, 2007 7:27 PM EST
Processor,,,, Since when is wanting to actually Support our Troops & discuss Bush's failed strategies a mental dissorder ?? -- Not doing so Hurts our Troops & Emboldens The Enemy.
Reply to this comment
by oldsailor3 February 17, 2007 6:56 PM EST
processor2

I always a wanted hero, you are the one

but if I consumed some of the same drugs as you take, then I could share this dream world that you seem to in

never-the-less, for sure you are my hero
the clouds are no stranger to you, sail on
Reply to this comment
by getcentered February 17, 2007 6:40 PM EST
processor2:
libsarenuts:

BORING!

Liberals, Liberals, Liberals, Liberals.

In the next elections, I am a LIBERAL.
You know, in the way they say it on FOX NEWS.

I am to be hated, like the people on conservative radio want.

I'm not an American, unless I'm a Republican.

Funny how the Right Wing Media has made "Liberal", a bad word. I can just see the distaste in people every time they have to write the word or say it. How did this come to be?

Rush, Savage, Drudge, FOX, and the REAL PRESIDENT:
Karl ROVE.

We have been divided, sensationalized and exploited. Thanks Karl.
Reply to this comment
by hhusted February 17, 2007 5:59 PM EST
libsarenuts and processor2, you are idiots in every since of the word. What planet do you live on. History proves that Democrats rule better than Republicans. Every moron knows that. I think you better craw out away from your momma's skirt and wake up to reality. As long as Democrats have control, we will have a better country. What Congress should do is impeach President Bush now and get rid of him so we can put Nancy there. At least she will do a much better job than Bush ever will.
Reply to this comment
by clemenhagen1 February 17, 2007 5:47 PM EST
Amen Dallison. The Republicans try to stake sole claim to the mantle of most patriotic, yet they demonstrate no clue about the nature of our constitional system. Go back and study even a little bit about the Founding Father's and you discover their almost pathological fear of unchecked executive power. In the initial (call it maiden voyage) attempt to create a system of government, the Articles of Confederation, they did not even create an executive branch. That proved impractical, so in Round 2, the current constitution created an executive significantly and repeatedly checked by the elected body of the people. Bush's cavalier attitude towards the constitutional rights of the people and his responsibility to answer to the legislative serves as the most significant threat to our system that I can remember in my lifetime. We do not elect emporers, though King Littlebritches and his crew of treasonous henchmen, obviously did not get the memo.
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