A small victory for the Iraq war opposition today. The US House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill setting out a timetable for US troop withdrawal from Iraq. With an original firm deadline of August 2008 for pulling the troops out, the House instead accepted Senate language of setting a ‘goal’ of getting troops out no later than March 2008. It will go to the Senate this morning.Â
President Bush has, of course, threatened to veto it. Congress can overrule him if it comes back and passes with two-thirds of the vote. Apparently the margin of victory in the House was short of the two-thirds needed to override Bush, which means, more than likely, it will fail at Bush’s veto. I think it is an important symbolic move though. It shows President Bush that we no longer want our troops in harm’s way in a war that, arguably, should not have been started in the first place. I’m proud of our Representatives in Washington for standing up to the Bush administration and telling them that they won’t accept his open-ended war any longer.Â
White House spokeswoman Dana Petrino said, “Tonight, the House of Representatives voted for failure in Iraq, and the president will veto its bill.� I see this as more of the ‘strong’ language we’ve come to know and love from the Bush administration. It makes things simpler. The House wants failure in Iraq; they want our troops to fail, therefore, this bill is un-American. This is utterly ridiculous. If anything, the House wants our troops to succeed but, unfortunately, it appears we are well past the point of being able to do so. Withdrawing is really the only option at the moment. As last week’s horrendous massacre proves, I don’t think the ‘job’ will ever be done and we could be there for the next century trying to finish it.