House Votes To Withdraw Troops

[Nickdfresh]

House OKs plan to withdraw US troops

WASHINGTON (AP) — Iraq has achieved only spotty military and political progress toward a democratic society, the Bush administration conceded Thursday in an unenthusiastic assessment that war critics quickly seized on as the House voted to withdraw U.S. troops by spring.

The measure passed 223-201 in the Democratic-controlled House despite a veto threat from President Bush, who has ruled out any change in war policy before September.

"The security situation in Iraq remains complex and extremely challenging," the administration report concluded. The economic picture is uneven, it added, and the government has not yet enacted vital political reconciliation legislation.

As many as 80 suicide bombers per month cross into the country from Syria, said the interim assessment, which is to be followed by a fuller accounting in September from Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in the region.

"I believe we can succeed in Iraq, and I know we must," Bush said at a White House news conference at which he stressed the interim nature of the report.

Describing a document produced by his administration at Congress' insistence, he said there was satisfactory progress by the Iraqi government toward meeting eight of 18 so-called benchmarks, unsatisfactory progress on eight more and mixed results on the others.

To his critics — including an increasing number of Republicans — he said bluntly, "I don't think Congress ought to be running the war. I think they ought to be funding the troops."

Democrats saw it differently.

A few hours after Bush's remarks, Democratic leaders engineered passage of legislation requiring the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops to begin within 120 days, and to be completed by April 1, 2008. The measure envisions a limited residual force to train Iraqis, protect U.S. assets and fight al-Qaeda and other terrorists.

The vote generally followed party lines: 219 Democrats and four Republicans in favor, and 191 Republicans and 10 Democrats opposed.

"The report makes clear that not even the White House can conclude there has been significant progress," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

To Bush and others who seek more time for the administration's policy to work, she said, "We have already waited too long."

Republicans sided with Bush — at least for now. The bill "undermines Gen. Petraeus, undermines the mission he has to make America and Iraq safe," said the House GOP leader, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio. "What we have here is not leadership, it's negligence."

The 25-page administration report was issued in the fifth year of a war that has claimed the lives of more than 3,600 U.S. troops and is costing U.S. taxpayers an estimated $10 billion a month.

Before Thursday's House vote, GOP aides said they hoped to suffer only a few party defections, but the administration faced a more volatile situation in the Senate. There, three Republicans have already said they intend to vote for a separate withdrawal measure, and several others have signed on as supporters of a bipartisan bill to implement a series of changes recommended last winter by the Iraqi Study Group.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who announced his intention to seek a change in policy last week, issued a statement that said the administration's most recent assessment "confirms my worst fears that while the Iraqi government is making some progress on some benchmarks, it's not moving fast enough to make meaningful or lasting progress."

Even so, it appears the president's allies have the support to block a final Senate vote in a showdown expected next week.

If the report changed any minds in Congress, it was not immediately apparent.

"It is time for the president to listen to the American people and do what is necessary to protect this nation. That means admitting his Iraq policy has failed, working with the Democrats and Republicans in Congress on crafting a new way forward in Iraq and refocusing our collective efforts on defeating al-Qaeda," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

But Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said Congress has already decided it will be September before the administration's strategy can be evaluated properly. "Certainly the young soldiers and Marines risking their lives today on the streets of Baghdad and Ramadi would agree — and they deserve our patience."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.



USAToday (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-07-12-house-iraq-vote_N.htm)

[Nickdfresh]

Analysis: Iraq Report Won't Help Bush

By TOM RAUM
The Associated Press
Thursday, July 12, 2007; 5:08 PM

WASHINGTON -- Half full, half empty. No matter how you spin it, the Iraq report won't help President Bush make his stay-the-course case to a skeptical public and Congress.

The president's approval rating is 33 percent in a new AP-Ipsos poll. The Democratic-run Congress, elected to curtail U.S. military involvement in Iraq, is even lower: 24 percent.

The nation's mood has soured on the mission.

Bush acknowledged as much Thursday. "There's war fatigue in America. It's affecting our psychology," he told a White House news conference. "I understand that. It's an ugly war."

The president is trying to use the new report to buy time, at least until September, when Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, issues a far more comprehensive one.

But patience is running thin. A growing number of senior Republicans _ including Sens. Richard Lugar of Indiana, John Warner of Virginia, George Voinovich of Ohio and Pete Domenici of New Mexico _ already have defected.

And military analysts are growing increasingly gloomy, even those who were earlier supportive of the decision to topple Saddam Hussein's government.

"There is no near-term answer," said Daniel Goure, vice president of the Lexington Institute, a military policy research group.

"Does that mean that you can't win this thing? This is winnable _ in about 10 years. But you could lose it; Iraq could descend into chaos and become a problem for everybody in about an hour and a half," Goure said.

Even as Bush was calling for waiting at least until September, Congress was debating Democratic-sponsored attempts to set an earlier day of reckoning.

"Mr. President, it would be wise to work with us to change the mission now, not wait until September," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

So far, a majority of Senate Republicans have stood by Bush and blocked efforts to reshape Iraq policy, if narrowly. It's not clear how much longer they can hold sway.

The real showdown will come on course-modifying legislation being drafted jointly by Lugar and Warner _ the senior Republicans, respectively, on the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees.

Thursday's interim assessment, required by Congress, cited progress on some fronts but not on others. Of the 18 benchmarks established in an Iraq spending bill earlier this year, the Iraqi government was credited with satisfactory progress on eight, unsatisfactory progress on another eight and mixed results on the remaining two.

The president used the report to try to rebut claims in Congress that little or no progress had been made since his decision earlier this year to send an additional 30,000 troops to Iraq.

He saw a glass that was half full rather than half empty.

He emphasized examples of progress by the Iraqi government as "a cause for optimism." These included a reduction in the level of sectarian violence and an improved Iraqi military.

Still, the report said the overall situation "remains complex and extremely challenging." It gave Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government bad grades on political reconciliation and on stalled legislation to divide oil revenues.

With such a mixed picture, Bush's rhetoric seems unlikely to change many minds, either in Congress or among the general public.

"It has to be done by Iraqis changing and the situation on the ground changing. It's out of our control," said James Thurber, a political scientist at American University.

Some military analysts even saw Thursday's report as too rosy in claiming partial progress.

"The Iraqi government has not really met the Bush administration's benchmarks in any major area," suggested Anthony Cordesman, an Iraq expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Seen from a more nuanced perspective, actual progress has been more limited" than claimed in the report, he said.

The interim report was issued in the fifth year of a war that has taken the lives of more than 3,600 U.S. troops and is costing U.S. taxpayers some $10 billion a month.

From Bush and his GOP allies to Democratic war critics to academics, nearly all agree the Iraqi government is not doing enough.

"Overall, the report was not bad. I think, however, that we need to keep up the pressure on Iraqi politicians," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "Their efforts to reach compromise are not lagging indicators of progress but necessary ingredients and, in fact, the most crucial of all."

___

EDITOR'S NOTE _ Tom Raum has covered national and international affairs for The Associated Press since 1973.
© 2007 The Associated Press

The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/12/AR2007071201406.html)

[Nickdfresh]

BTW, more US service people have died in the last four months of the conflict than in any previous four-month period...

[Baby's On Fire]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
BTW, more US service people have died in the last four months of the conflict than in any previous four-month period...


How many Iraqis have Bush and Cheney murdered during the course of their illegal war?

Let's not forget that.

[TongueNGroove]

Originally posted by Baby's On Fire
How many Iraqis have Bush and Cheney murdered during the course of their illegal war?

Let's not forget that.

You are a moron.

But, be that it may, I think we should withdraw from IRAQ. It is obvious that congress will not let us do what needs to be done (Send as many troops as it takes to quell the unrest and let us decimate whoever gets in the way) so we are stuck in a quagmire, not unlike Vietnam.

Once again politics are running this one instead of a dedication to win it. If only we could behave the way we had to in WW1 and WW2 this war would be over in weeks. But with so many liberal tree huggers watching video and willing to prosecute any soldier for killing anyone, this war cannot be won.

You think this war is bad....do some research on WW1 and WW2. Those were "Real" wars. The death tolls and atrocities committed on both sides are unspeakable.....but that is the nature of war.

War should not be televised. Like Jack Nicholson said, "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" But deep down we need men who are willing to do what needs to be done to insure peace.

We need to let them win the war, or we need to pull out. Iraq is a lost cause unless we turn off the cameras and get the job done.

It is obvious that the Iraqi government is currently too afraid to take a stand, but they have had long enough.

Let’s do it or get the fuck out.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by TongueNGroove
Y...It is obvious that congress will not let us do what needs to be done (Send as many troops as it takes to quell the unrest and let us decimate whoever gets in the way) so we are stuck in a quagmire, not unlike Vietnam.
...

You're blaming this shit on "Congress?"

What fucking troops? We don't have anymore!!!

It's Bush that sent in too few to begin with!

[Nickdfresh]

GOP Bill seeks narrowed Iraq mission
Lugar, Warner issue sharp challenge to Bush
The Associated Press
Updated: 3:46 p.m. ET July 13, 2007

WASHINGTON - Two prominent Senate Republicans have drafted legislation that would require President Bush by mid-October to come up with a plan to dramatically narrow the mission of U.S. troops in Iraq.

The legislation, which represents a sharp challenge to Bush, was put forward Friday by Sens. John Warner and Richard Lugar and it came as the Pentagon acknowledged that a decreasing number of Iraqi army battalions are able to operate independently of U.S. troops.

"Given continuing high levels of violence in Iraq and few manifestations of political compromise among Iraq's factions, the optimal outcome in Iraq of a unified, pluralist, democratic government that is able to police itself, protect its borders, and achieve economic development is not likely to be achieved in the near future," the Warner-Lugar proposal said.

Defying the president
Bush has asked Congress to hold off on demanding a change in the course of the war until September, when the top U.S. commander, Gen. David Petraeus, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, delivers a fresh assessment of its progress.

Warner, R-Va., and Lugar, R-Ind., are well regarded within Congress on defense issues. Warner was the longtime chairman of the Armed Services Committee before stepping down last year, while Lugar is the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee.

The Warner-Lugar proposal states that "American military and diplomatic strategy in Iraq must adjust to the reality that sectarian factionalism is not likely to abate anytime soon and probably cannot be controlled from the top."

Accordingly, Warner and Lugar say Bush must draft a plan for U.S. troops that would keep them from "policing the civil strife or sectarian violence in Iraq" and focus them instead on protecting Iraq's borders, targeting terrorists and defending U.S. assets.

Iraqi preparedness down
At the Pentagon, meanwhile, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that the number of battle-ready Iraqi battalions able to fight on their own has dropped to a half-dozen from 10 in recent months despite heightened American training efforts.

Without providing numbers, the White House had acknowledged in its report to Congress Thursday that not enough progress was being made in training Iraqi security forces -- an issue that determines to a large extent when the United States may be able to reduce its forces there.

Pace, however, also said the readiness of the Iraqi fighting units was not an issue to be "overly concerned" about because the problem is partly attributable to the fact that the Iraq units are out operating in the field.

Appearing at a news conference with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Pace said that "as units operate in the field, they have casualties, they consume vehicles and equipment."

The Warner-Lugar proposal is the first major legislative challenge to Bush's Iraq policy endorsed by the two senators -- and lent a more bipartisan imprint to congressional dissatisfaction with the war now in its fifth year.

Earlier this year, both Lugar and Warner expressed grave doubts about Bush's decision to send 30,000 extra troops to Iraq. But both have been reluctant to back binding legislation that would force the president's hand.

The legislation the pair is working on would direct Bush to present the new strategy to Congress by Oct. 16 and begin implementing it by Dec. 31.

The proposal also would seek to make Bush renew the authorization for war that Congress gave him in 2002. Many members contend that authorization -- which led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 -- was limited to approval of deposing dictator Saddam Hussein and searching for weapons of mass destruction.

Rice asks for patience
Also Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice exhorted congressional critics of Iraq war policy Friday to give the Bush administration and the fledgling government in Baghdad until September to “make a coherent judgment of where we are.”

“But we shouldn’t just dismiss as inconsequential the progress that they have made,” the secretary said.

Interviewed on NBC's TODAY show, Rice said the administration would have preferred greater success, but she hailed “progress on — particularly — some of the security benchmarks.”

Rice called Maliki “a man who wants to do the right thing for his country,” adding that he was “not the only factor here.” She said other Iraqi leaders and “power brokers” needed to make greater efforts to stem the violence.

Yet Rice also argued that Baghdad has made headway in lowering the level of sectarian violence, pointing to “something that isn’t even on that benchmark list — the tremendous change in al Anbar province, where you have the sheiks, the local people, taking back their streets from al-Qaida.”

In still another development, Bush's top spokesman publicly expressed concern Friday about the pace at which the Iraqi parliament is finishing work on legislation aimed at bringing about changes considered indispensable to its transition from the Saddam era.

"My understanding is at this juncture they're going to take August off, but, you know, they may change their minds," press secretary Tony Snow said.

Benchmarks and consequences
The fast-moving developments capped another stressful week for Bush and administration figures who have been resisting attempts by majority Democrats in Congress to force a U.S. troop withdrawal. The administration sent to the Hill an interim progress report Thursday which said that only about half of some 18 congressionally-mandated benchmarks for improvements in the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have been accomplished.

And Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, a top U.S. commander in Iraq, told Pentagon reporters in a separate news conference via video linkup from Iraq that "there will be consequences" if U.S. troops withdraw too soon.

Mixon spoke of a troop drawdown that would be smaller and slower than Democrats envision.

"It needs to be well thought out," he said of any plans to drawn down forces. "It cannot be a strategy that is based on 'Well, we need to leave.' That's not a strategy, that's a withdrawal."

Congressional Democrats, who have said the war was draining U.S. assets from the fight against al-Qaida, moved earlier Friday to highlight what they see as a major failure in Bush's war on terror: the inability to bring Osama bin Laden to justice.

The Senate voted 87-1 in favor of doubling the reward to $50 million for information leading to his capture. The bill also would require regular classified reports from the administration explaining what steps it's taking to find bin Laden.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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