Report Doesn't Sway Bush On Iraq

By MICHAEL ABRAMOWITZ and JONATHAN WEISMAN The Washington Post

Published: Jul 13, 2007

WASHINGTON - President Bush, delivering a mixed report to Congress on political and military progress in Iraq, insisted Thursday he would not be rushed into an early withdrawal, even as lawmakers voted to begin pulling troops from Iraq in the coming months.

Just hours after the administration's report reached Capitol Hill, the House responded by approving legislation requiring U.S. combat forces to start leaving Iraq within 120 days.

The resolution passed on a largely party-line vote, with only four Republican defections - a reflection of White House efforts to keep House Republicans from joining restive GOP senators in challenging the president.

With most Democrats solidly opposing Bush on Iraq, the White House appeared intent on easing Republicans' concerns over their politically costly support of the president.

In both the report and a subsequent news conference, Bush made the case that progress is under way, albeit fitfully, and that Congress should wait until September before demanding any dramatic shifts in strategy.

The president cast his ultimate goal as identical to that of his critics.

"We're working to defeat al-Qaida and other extremists and aid the rise of an Iraqi government that can protect its people," Bush said at the beginning of his news conference. "By doing this, we'll create the conditions that would allow our troops to begin coming home while securing our long-term national interest in Iraq and in the region."

Answering questions for more than an hour, Bush acknowledged public anxiety over the conflict in Iraq but remained defiant about his prerogative to conduct the war as he sees fit.

He said he might be willing to consider a new approach, but not until September, when Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are scheduled to make a more comprehensive assessment of conditions in Iraq.

"There's war fatigue," Bush said. "It's affecting our psychology."

The president later lashed out at lawmakers for trying to end the war from Capitol Hill. "I'll listen to Congress," Bush said. "But the idea of telling our military how to conduct operations, for example, or how to deal with troop strength, I don't think it makes sense ... nor do I think it's a good precedent for the future."

The White House report highlighted "encouraging signs" of progress and pointed down the road to a "more normalized and sustainable level of U.S. engagement in Iraq, with a decreasing number of U.S. combat forces."

It was also candid, though, about some of the failures of the Iraq government in meeting a series of congressionally mandated benchmarks.

It was far from clear whether Bush's latest communications offensive had purchased him much more time on Capitol Hill. Even key Republicans questioned the Iraqi government's ability to meet benchmarks on security and national reconciliation.

"I am disappointed that, after great sacrifice by U.S. and Iraqi troops since the announcement of the surge in January, the Iraqi government has not met critical political benchmarks in that period," said Sen. John Warner, R-Va., the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee and a bellwether of GOP opinion.

"That government is simply not providing leadership worthy of the considerable sacrifice of our forces, and this has to change immediately."

Democrats were more scathing, accusing Bush of whitewashing the findings and failing to face reality.

"The president stubbornly refuses to develop a redeployment plan or devise a redeployment schedule, preferring to hope, despite the abundance of evidence to the contrary, that his failed policies will somehow make tomorrow better than today," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Thursday night's House vote showed that Democratic leaders have solidified their party's unity, winning over conservative Democrats while pulling aboard a few straggling liberals who had sought an even firmer response. Republicans by and large remained united behind Bush, a sign of the growing polarization in that chamber over the war.

Under the bill, which mirrors a bipartisan amendment now under debate in the Senate, combat troops would have to start coming home within 120 days of passage, with most of them out by April 1. An unstated number of troops - perhaps tens of thousands, according to Senate GOP supporters - would likely remain to combat terrorism, protect U.S. diplomatic facilities and train Iraqi security forces, although Bush would be required to justify their continued deployment.

The president has said he would veto such legislation, and there are no signs that Democrats can muster enough votes to override him.

The 223-201 House vote included four Republicans supporting the bill and 10 Democrats opposed. The four Republicans included two that have voted for withdrawal before - Reps. Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland and Walter Jones of North Carolina - and two that haven't - Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri and John J. Duncan Jr. of Tennessee.

HOW THEY VOTED

How House members from Florida voted on the Iraq war bill:

YES

Democrats: Boyd, Brown, Castor, Hastings, Klein, Mahoney, Meek, Wasserman Schultz, Wexler

NO

Republicans: Bilirakis, Brown-Waite, Buchanan, Crenshaw, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Diaz-Balart, Feeney, Keller, Mack, Mica, Miller, Putnam, Ros-Lehtinen, Stearns, Weldon, Young

The Associated Press