February 11, 2009 5:14 PM
- Text
Democrats: Bring Troops Home Next Year
(CBS/AP)
House Democratic leaders vowed Thursday to pass legislation setting a deadline of Sept. 1, 2008, for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq, a challenge to President Bush's war policy that drew a blunt veto threat in return.
"It would unnecessarily handcuff our generals on the ground, and it's safe to say it's a non-starter for the president," said White House spokesman Dan Bartlett.
Little more than two months after Democrats took control of the House and Senate, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said the bill would set "dates certain for the first time in the Congress for the redeployment of our troops out of Iraq."
CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson calls this the latest and most aggressive challenge to the president's authority as commander in chief.
Officials said the deadline would be accelerated — possibly to the end of 2007 — if the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki failed to meet commitments for taking over security operations, distributing oil revenue and opening his nation's constitution to amendments.
The plan includes benchmarks for things like Iraq taking over its own security, holding new provincial elections and finalizing plans to distribute the country's oil wealth among all Iraqis, Attkisson reports.
Pelosi said Democrats would add their war-related provisions to the administration's request for nearly $100 billion to pay for the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pelosi told reporters the measure would mark the first time the new Democratic-controlled Congress has established a "date certain" for the end of U.S. combat in the four-year-old war that has claimed the lives of more than 3,100 U.S. troops.
Senior White House adviser Dan Bartlett, accompanying Mr. Bush on a flight to Latin America, told reporters, "It's safe to say it's a nonstarter for the president."
Within an hour of Pelosi's news conference, House Republican Leader John Boehner attacked the measure. He said Democrats were proposing legislation that amounted to "establishing and telegraphing to our enemy a timetable" that would result in failure of the U.S. military mission in Iraq.
"Gen. (David) Petraeus should be the one making the decisions on what happens on the ground in Iraq, not Nancy Pelosi or John Murtha," the Ohio Republican added. Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, has been heavily involved in crafting legislation designed to end U.S., participation in the war.
Democrats won control of Congress last fall in midterm elections shadowed by public opposition to the war, and have vowed since taking power to challenge Mr. Bush's policies.
Pelosi made her announcement as Senate Democrats reviewed a different approach — a measure that would set a goal of a troop withdrawal by March 2008. Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada called a closed-door meeting of the rank-and-file to consider the measure.
In the House, Pelosi and the leadership have struggled in recent days to come up with an approach on the war that would satisfy liberals reluctant to vote for continued funding without driving away more moderate Democrats unwilling to be seen as tying the hands of military commanders.
The decision to impose conditions on the war risks a major confrontation with the Bush administration and its Republican allies in Congress.
But without a unified party, the Democratic leadership faced the possibility of a highly embarrassing defeat when the spending legislation reaches a vote, likely later this month. establishing a deadline for troop withdrawals.
"It would unnecessarily handcuff our generals on the ground, and it's safe to say it's a non-starter for the president," said White House spokesman Dan Bartlett.
Little more than two months after Democrats took control of the House and Senate, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said the bill would set "dates certain for the first time in the Congress for the redeployment of our troops out of Iraq."
CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson calls this the latest and most aggressive challenge to the president's authority as commander in chief.
Officials said the deadline would be accelerated — possibly to the end of 2007 — if the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki failed to meet commitments for taking over security operations, distributing oil revenue and opening his nation's constitution to amendments.
The plan includes benchmarks for things like Iraq taking over its own security, holding new provincial elections and finalizing plans to distribute the country's oil wealth among all Iraqis, Attkisson reports.
Pelosi said Democrats would add their war-related provisions to the administration's request for nearly $100 billion to pay for the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pelosi told reporters the measure would mark the first time the new Democratic-controlled Congress has established a "date certain" for the end of U.S. combat in the four-year-old war that has claimed the lives of more than 3,100 U.S. troops.
Senior White House adviser Dan Bartlett, accompanying Mr. Bush on a flight to Latin America, told reporters, "It's safe to say it's a nonstarter for the president."
Within an hour of Pelosi's news conference, House Republican Leader John Boehner attacked the measure. He said Democrats were proposing legislation that amounted to "establishing and telegraphing to our enemy a timetable" that would result in failure of the U.S. military mission in Iraq.
"Gen. (David) Petraeus should be the one making the decisions on what happens on the ground in Iraq, not Nancy Pelosi or John Murtha," the Ohio Republican added. Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, has been heavily involved in crafting legislation designed to end U.S., participation in the war.
Democrats won control of Congress last fall in midterm elections shadowed by public opposition to the war, and have vowed since taking power to challenge Mr. Bush's policies.
Pelosi made her announcement as Senate Democrats reviewed a different approach — a measure that would set a goal of a troop withdrawal by March 2008. Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada called a closed-door meeting of the rank-and-file to consider the measure.
In the House, Pelosi and the leadership have struggled in recent days to come up with an approach on the war that would satisfy liberals reluctant to vote for continued funding without driving away more moderate Democrats unwilling to be seen as tying the hands of military commanders.
The decision to impose conditions on the war risks a major confrontation with the Bush administration and its Republican allies in Congress.
But without a unified party, the Democratic leadership faced the possibility of a highly embarrassing defeat when the spending legislation reaches a vote, likely later this month. establishing a deadline for troop withdrawals.
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Tucker Reals Tucker Reals is a senior news editor and overnight site editor for CBSNews.com, based at CBS News' London bureau.
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