As Bush stays firm, House votes pullout

WASHINGTON -- The House last night voted to withdraw most US troops from Iraq by April 1, acting hours after President Bush urged Congress not to interfere in war strategy and to maintain funding for the military.

The 223-to-201 vote, which is not enough to override Bush's threatened veto, came after the president delivered a report to Congress that said Iraq is making satisfactory progress on only eight of 18 benchmarks the United States has set for it.

Earlier yesterday, Bush defended his handling of the war and sought to minimize the role of an increasingly restless Congress in the conflict. He said the House and Senate should provide money for the troops but leave the war strategy to him and US mil itary commanders.

"Congress has all the right in the world to fund. That's their main involvement in this war, which is to provide funds for our troops," Bush said at a White House press conference.

Mindful that Democrats, and some Republicans, on Capitol Hill may try to force a change in strategy, the president said lawmakers should not be "determining how troops are positioned, or troop strength. . . . I don't think that would be good for the country."

While the House Democrats could not attract enough Republican support to override a veto, last night's vote signaled continued discontent with Bush's war strategy, and could be followed by a similar effort in the Senate.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the president's progress report "makes clear that not even the White House can conclude there has been significant progress." But House Republican leader John A. Boehner said the House vote was meaningless, adding, "There is only one way to end the war on radical jihadists, and that is to win."

The House bill calls for the withdrawal of combat troops to begin within 120 days, and to be completed by April 1. It allows for a small force to train Iraqis, protect US assets, and fight terrorists.

The vote was mostly along party lines, with 219 Democrats and four Republicans in favor, and 191 Republicans and 10 Democrats opposed.

Bush had urged Congress to wait for a more complete Iraq progress report in September, but the Democratic-led Congress pushed forward yesterday with their effort to mandate a pullback or pullout of troops within months. Lawmakers pointed to a provision included in a war-budget bill earlier this year that required significant progress in Iraq to justify continued funding.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada said the mixed report means the president's Iraq policy must change immediately.

"The time to do this is now, not September," Reid said at a Capitol Hill press conference. "We're told: Good progress is being made. Wait till September. Good progress is being made. How many times over the last 4 1/2 years have we heard this? Too many to number. . . . Good progress is not being made."

While a growing number of Republicans are breaking with Bush and criticizing him over the war, it is not clear whether Democrats -- who hold a slim majority in the Senate -- can convince enough of them to help force a change of policy. Democrats and the GOP have no consensus on troop withdrawals or other strategy changes.

Yesterday, Bush referred to critics within his own party as his "good, honorable people" and said they should not try to go against the advice of military commanders to reshape the war.

Still, one of those friends, Senator John Warner of Virginia -- who authored the provision requiring yesterday's progress report -- said he was "disappointed that, after great sacrifice by US and Iraqi troops since the announcement of the surge in January, the Iraqi government has not met critical political benchmarks in that period."

At the press conference, Bush acknowledged that he is sticking to his plan despite "war fatigue in America." But he urged Congress and the public to give him more time as the expanded US troops try to secure Iraq.

"It's affecting our psychology. I understand that. It's an ugly war," Bush said. But he urged Americans, "If we increase our support at this crucial moment, we can hasten the day when our troops come home."

The Iraq progress report found satisfactory improvement in significant areas, such as the revision of the Iraqi Constitution and the support of the Iraqi government for a Baghdad security plan. But it concluded that the country fell short in key areas such as holding elections and in the effort to redistribute oil revenues.

The report concluded that the US strategy to stabilize the country was in its early stages but found some encouraging signs that eventually could result in US troops reductions. Bush stressed to reporters that the report was issued three weeks after the troop expansion took full effect and said that a more complete assessment will come in September.

Some White House critics said the president went too far in trying to minimize the influence of Congress in the war

Lawrence Korb, a Vietnam-era Navy official and Reagan administration assistant defense secretary, said Congress has the power to try to end the war if it believes that is the will of the public and in the interest of national security.

Korb, a senior fellow at the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, said Congress did just that to provoke an ending to the Vietnam War. This congress, he added, should do the same for the Iraq conflict.

Bush's view, Korb said, is, " 'You authorized me to go to war and now stay out of it until I end this thing one way or the other.' " But the nation's founders he said, set up the government to ensure checks against the president's power to wage war.

The president told reporters he welcomes advice from Congress but leadership of the war should be left to him and the commanders in the field. He suggested reporters would one day visit his Texas ranch and find him at peace with his decisions. "When you ever come down and visit the old, old, tired me down there in Crawford, I will be able to I say I looked in the mirror and made decisions based upon principle, not based upon politics," Bush said.

Material from news services was included in this report.