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Democrats Back Down on Iraq Timeline (LA Times) |
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Wednesday, 23 May 2007CAIRO ÔÇö After a muscle-flexing battle with adamant US President George W. Bush, Democratic leaders have backed down and agreed to draft a war-funding bill without a timeline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, The Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday, May 22.
Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives and Senate have decided to drop their timetable demand from the new bill that will be sent to Bush later this week.
The decision concludes a weeks-long showdown with the wartime administration that saw Bush vetoes a $124-billion bill because it included a timetable for the troops pullout.
The House later passed a legislation to provide war funds in two 60-day installments.
Bush again threatened to use his veto power and the measure was sidetracked in the Senate in favor of the new bill.
While details remain subject to change, the latest measure is designed to provide funds for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through September 30, the end of the fiscal year.
However, Democrats insist that whatever bill they will present is going to contain some kind of political and military benchmarks for the government of Nuri Al-Maliki.
Failure to make progress toward the goals could cost the government some of the reconstruction aid the US has promised.
Disappointing
The Democratic decision to drop the pullout timetable was disappointing news to war critics.
"We need to stand our ground against this president," former Senator John Edwards, who is running a populist campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, said in a statement.
"Congress should send him the same bill back to him again and again until he realizes he has no choice but to start bringing our troops home."
The new legislation is likely to leave Democrats, who wrestled control over the Congress in the November's mid-term elections largely over public dissatisfaction with the Iraq war, in hot water.
Democratic leaders have vowed for months not to give Bush a blank check for his war policies.
On Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid insisted on a nonbinding timeline at a meeting with top White House officials.
Many members of the House's influential Out of Iraq Caucus affirmed they will not support any legislation that does not oppose the continued deployment of troops.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a war critic and a co-founder of the Out of Iraq Caucus, said she would seek explanations from Democratic leaders to their back-down.
Officials expect Democrats in both houses to seek other opportunities later this year to challenge Bush's handling of the unpopular war.
Further discussion of withdrawal timelines would have to be delayed until Congress considers other legislations, most likely the defense appropriations bill necessary to fund the military for fiscal year 2008.
The Iraq war has grown increasingly unpopular in the US, with polls showing that a majority of Americans believe the invasion was Bush's gravest mistake.
At least 15 servicemen were killed this weekend and 76 so far this month, putting May on track to be one of the bloodiest months for US troops in Iraq.
May 23, 2007
Islam Online
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Wednesday, 23 May 2007
US
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