Articles
Agence France-Presse: Democrats Target Bush Anew on Iraq
06/29/2007
By Stephen Collinson
The new assault on White House
Mounting Republican anxiety over the war is emboldening
Democrats, who have been repeatedly frustrated by Bush's congressional allies
in their attempts to handcuff him over
"We have many arrows in our quiver, and we are
sharpening them," said House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Friday, as members of Congress left town for a week-long Independence Day
recess.
Pelosi said she would introduce a bill in July to authorize
troop redeployments to start within four months and to be completed by April 1,
2008, a formula that Bush has already blocked once with a presidential veto.
The only exceptions would cover forces fighting terrorism
and protecting US installations in the war-ravaged country, she said.
Senate Democrats will introduce their own attempts to force
Bush to accept troop withdrawal timelines, extend rest periods for troops
between deployments and curtail his congressional authorization to wage war.
"People in Iraq are celebrating dying of natural
causes," Reid said Friday, relating details of what he said was a
"mind boggling" radio report.
"If you die of a heart attack or cancer in
The new Democratic initiative comes a month after party
leaders bowed to Bush's demands to strip troop withdrawal timelines out of a
new 100 billion dollar emergency war budget.
Although Democrats grabbed control of Congress in elections
last November, partly on a wave of voter anger over the war, they lack the
crucial super-majority of at least 60 votes in the Senate needed to overcome Republican
blocking tactics.
Asked whether signs of ebbing Republican support for Bush
could help the Democrats piece together 60 votes, Reid said : "I don't
know if we can or not. We're going to keep pushing, because it's the right
thing to do."
Bush was able to keep his firewall intact in the last
showdown over
But as the next Democratic assault will be attached to bills
setting policy for the Pentagon, rather than to appropriation bills funding the
war effort, some observers believe Republican support may be more prone to
fracturing.
Bush on Thursday pleaded with Americans to give time for his
strategy of surging nearly 30,000 extra troops into
"Americans have got to understand it takes a while to
mobilize additional troops and move from the
Bush's plea came after two Republican senators broke ranks
with renewed calls Wednesday for changes in
Senator Richard Lugar, a reluctant rebel and foreign policy
expert, sent shockwaves through
Fellow Senate Republican George Voinovich, who like Lugar
has resisted Democratic attempts to curtail Bush's war powers, recommended a
disengagement from
The new Democratic attempt to skewer Bush on
Senior Republicans in the House and the Senate have said
they expect Bush will have little option but to look for a course change in