WASHINGTON, 29 March 2007 — The Senate’s vote of support late Tuesday for a US troop withdrawal from Iraq leaves President Bush confronted for the first time by a Congress telling him it’s time to end the war.
“We would hope that the president understands how serious we are,” said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., after the Senate vote which requires Bush to accept some sort of legislative timetable in exchange for the billions of dollars needed to fund the war..
With the Senate resuming debate on the $122 billion bill yesterday, Bush reminded lawmakers their move will not prompt him to negotiate, but to veto any funding legislation that includes a deadline for withdrawal of troops.
“Members of Congress need to stop making political statements, start providing vital funds for our troops and get a bill to my desk that I can sign into law,” Bush told members the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association meeting in Washington. “If Congress fails to pass a bill to fund our troops on the front lines, the people will know who to hold responsible.”
But Reid and other Democrats say they won’t back down.
The bill finances operations in Iraq and Afghanistan but requires Bush begin bringing home some combat troops right away with a nonbinding goal of ending combat missions as of March 31, 2008.
The House last week passed a similar bill by a 218-212 vote. That bill orders combat troops out by Aug. 31, 2008 — guaranteeing the final spending measure negotiated with the Senate will include some sort of timetable on the war.
Sen. John McCain, a 2008 Republican presidential aspirant, called the vote “a very bad decision.” McCain, appearing on NBC’s “Today” show yesterday from Orlando, Fla., said the war “was badly mismanaged. But there are signs of progress everywhere. I am confident that given the opportunity, we can have success. The consequences of failure are catastrophic because if we come home, Bin Laden and Zarqawi, they are going to follow us.”
“Congress should not define how long our enemy has to hang on to win,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina.
Earlier this month, Senate Democrats couldn’t accumulate the votes for a timetable. But during Tuesday’s vote they were able to gain support from two Republicans, including Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.
“There will be no victory or defeat for the United States in Iraq,” he said. “There will not be a military solution to Iraq. Iraq belongs to the 25 million Iraqis who live there. It does not belong to the United States. Iraq is not a prize to be won or lost,” he said.
Sen. Chuck Hagel delivered the deciding vote by joining anti-war Republican Gordon Smith of Oregon in breaking ranks and voting with Democrats to put a nonbinding end date on the war.
“We have misunderstood, misread, misplanned and mismanaged our honorable intentions in Iraq with an arrogant self-delusion reminiscent of Vietnam,” said Hagel, R-Nebraska.
