House Rebukes Bush On Iraq

(CBS/AP)  The Democratic-controlled House passed a nonbinding resolution Friday criticizing President Bush's plan to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, opening an epic confrontation between Congress and the commander in chief over an unpopular war that has taken the lives of more than 3,100 U.S. military personnel.

The measure was approved on a vote of 246-182, following an extraordinary four-day debate. Seventeen Republicans crossed party lines to support the resolution, while two Democrats opposed it.

"The passage of this legislation will signal a change in direction that will end the fighting and bring our troops home," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, endorsing the measure that takes issue with Mr. Bush's decision to send an additional 21,500 U.S. troops into battle.

The president's Republican allies battled to the end against the measure, saying resolve is more important than resolutions and warning against the follow-up measures that some Democrats advocate to force a change in policy.

"Their so-called slow-bleed approach is the bite that will surely hurt those fighting under America's flag overseas," said Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the second-ranking Republican, as debate neared an end.

"This nonbinding resolution is the first step in an all-too-binding spiral toward defeat in a fight that we cannot afford to lose," he said.

---

Read the House resolution on Iraq (.pdf)

---

The developments in the House marked the first vote of the new Congress on the war. Roughly 400 of 434 lawmakers spoke during four days of debate – an unusual amount of time devoted to a single measure.

As the 45 hours of debate drew to a close, Republicans chose as their final speaker Republican Sam Johnson — a former Vietnam POW — as a living reminder of their central theme: support the troops. Democrats insist they do; in fact, that's the first sentence of the resolution, CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

You might have expected high-voltage rhetoric or fist-pounding condemnations from the White House in response to the resolution. Instead, Spokesman Tony Snow was devoid of outrage, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports. In a written statement, he merely pointed out that the resolution is "non-binding" and the president stands by his Iraq strategy.

And White House sources tell CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod that the president doesn't care about an ideological rebuke — he just wants to protect funding, which Friday's vote didn't touch.

Passage in the House sets the stage for a test vote Saturday in the Senate, where Republicans have said they intend to block consideration of the measure unless Democrats grant equal treatment to an alternative measure that opposes cutting funds for the troops.

"I will do everything in my power to ensure the House resolution dies an inglorious death in the Senate," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

The House measure disapproves of Mr. Bush's decision to increase troop strength, and commits Congress to "support and protect" the troops.

There was never any doubt at the White House that it would lose the House vote. In fact, Knoller reports, officials didn't try very hard to prevent the defeat. But Snow said those who voted for the measure are "gambling on failure."

• 1
• 2
• Next Page »

[htjr]

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.

[scott4261]

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.

[bluestardad]

If you like the Bush Surge this is for you!

http://www.carlosmencia.com/content/videos.php?id=66

[bluestardad]

Well Done House! Start Impeachment of Bush and Cheney now!

[j-whitman]

I see Bush got 2 moles removed from his head -- Cheney & Rumsfeild

[j-whitman]

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.

[oldsailor3]

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

[getcentered]

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.

[hhusted]

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.

[clemenhagen1]

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.