US House Democrats unveiled legislation Thursday that would have
US combat troops out of Iraq by August 2008.
The troop withdrawal timetable would be embedded in
appropriations legislation that provided nearly US$100 billion the
Bush administration has requested for fighting in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
The measure would mark the first time the Democratic-controlled
Congress has established a date certain for the end of US combat in
the Iraq war, which has lasted nearly four years and left nearly
3,200 US troops dead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a news
conference.
The measure would "refocus our military efforts on Afghanistan
and fighting the war on terrorism where it began," said Pelosi, the
first woman speaker in US history.
The bill requires the Bush administration and the Iraqi
government meet a series of benchmarks showing progress in bringing
stability to Iraq, and that if those conditions have not been met,
a 180-day withdrawal of US troops would begin.
"No matter what, by March 2008, the redeployment begins," Pelosi
said.
The Democratic measure was immediately attacked by
Republicans.
The legislation proposed by Democrats amounted to "establishing
and telegraphing to our enemy a timetable," said House Minority
Leader John Boehner.
He said the top US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus,
who took command last month, should be the one "making the
decisions on what happens on the ground in Iraq, not Nancy Pelosi
or (Democratic Representative) John Murtha."
Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in last
November's elections, partly because of the public's strong
opposition to the Iraq war.
(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2007)
