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Vote puts Bush, Congress on Iraq collision course
By Stephen Collinson
AFP
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 05 11 07The US House of Representatives Thursday was to vote on limiting Iraq war funding to just a few months, prompting President George W. Bush to threaten to veto a bill he derided as "haphazard and piecemeal."
The measure, expected to come to a vote by late evening, would also force Bush to demonstrate progress in Iraq in July, before lawmakers decide whether to release a 53 billion dollar second tranche of war funds.
Bush fought back hard Thursday, amid signs of softening Republican support for his strategy to surge nearly 30,000 more troops into violence-torn Iraq.
"I'll veto the bill if it is this haphazard, piecemeal funding, and I made that clear," Bush said after meeting officials at the Defense Department.
Bush used his veto power for only the second time last week to strike down a bill tying war funding to a timetable to begin withdrawing the 146,000 troops from October from a war which has killed 3,379 of their comrades.
Chances of another veto seemed slim however, as it was unclear whether a similar bill would pass the Senate, and composite legislation must be agreed by both chambers before it is sent to the president.
Democrats meanwhile seized on signs of increasing pressure on Bush from Republican lawmakers facing tough 2008 reelection fights.
"I think this president is more isolated than any president since Richard Nixon in his final days," Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer told reporters, referring to the US leader who resigned over the 1970s Watergate scandal.
Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid warned that faced with rising anger over Iraq, Bush would have to drop his "it's my way or no way" approach.
Bush did make an apparently conciliatory step when he said it made sense to insert benchmarks for action by the Iraqi government in the war budget, but hinted they should not be tied to troop reductions if targets were not met.Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi countered that "benchmarks without consequences and enforcement are meaningless," a position echoed by Reid.
Emerging details of a White House visit by 11 concerned Republican House members on Tuesday came after senior Republicans said this week a "Plan B" might be needed in Iraq absent clear success for the surge by September.
" I've been to a lot of meetings with the president about the war. This was one of the toughest, frankest, no-holds-barred meetings," said Republican lawmaker Ray LaHood who was at Tuesday's meeting.
September is emerging as a possible make-or-break point for US Iraq strategy, as General David Petraeus, commander of American forces in the country, is expected to report on progress of the surge strategy.
" We want a very candid report in September," LaHood said. "We don't want politics mixed into it. And the way forward after September, if the report is not good, is going to be very, very difficult."
Bush said he reminded the lawmakers that "we ought to give David Petraeus a chance ... why don't wait and see what happens? ... let's stop playing politics."
LaHood said Bush listened carefully at the meeting, also attended by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and top political adviser Karl Rove.
Gates has warned that the split funding bill, would have "dramatic" consequences for the war effort.
Democrats are striving to find a way to satisfy their restive anti-war support base and further their drive to bring troops home from Iraq, yet find a funding bill the president will sign.
In a sign of pressure from the anti-war bloc, Democratic leaders agreed to also allow a vote on a motion calling for the fully funded withdrawal of troops from Iraq within 180 days, which had no realistic chance of passage.
The Democratic budget plan would offer 43 billion dollars to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan only through the summer months, and withhold a further 53 billion dollars pending Bush's report on progress.
Should lawmakers vote to cut funding, in July, troop withdrawals would have to begin within 180 days.
col/ch
AFP 10 2003 GMT 05 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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