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Republicans test dems with iraq withdrawal vote Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a6g8rxoQVYyc&refer=ushttp://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a6g8rxoQVYyc&refer=us
Republicans to Test Call for Quick Pullout From Iraq (Update2)
Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- House Republicans sought to kill any talk of immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by planning a quick vote on the matter later tonight. They outnumber Democrats in the chamber by a margin of 231-202.
House Republican leaders said they'll propose their own resolution to demonstrate there's no support for the quick-exit proposal Democrat John Murtha said he plans to offer soon.
Murtha, 73, is a decorated Vietnam War veteran who served 37 years in the Marines. He voted to authorize President George W. Bush to use force before the war. While Murtha's been increasingly critical of its handling, his impassioned call yesterday for immediate withdrawal surprised members of his own party as well as Republicans and stoked the increasingly bitter debate over the conflict.
Republicans said they want a vote today on whether ``the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately.'' The aim is ``to make sure that we support our troops that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan,'' House Speaker Dennis Hastert told reporters at a news briefing.
Murtha, the top Democrat on the chamber's panel on defense spending, was the first Vietnam veteran to serve in Congress.
Democrats were incensed by the Republicans' tactic. Debate on the floor of the House was animated and impassioned, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle heckling their opponents and cheering their allies.
Murtha's ``speech has prompted the stunt that the Republicans are pulling here to force a vote on a resolution never considered by any committee,'' said Representative Henry Waxman, a Democrat of California, during floor debate. ``The resolution before this body is a fake.''
Bush Speech
Bush, rejecting calls to withdraw U.S. troops soon from Iraq, said he relies on the ``sober judgment'' of military officers who advise that leaving before the terrorists are defeated would be a mistake.
``We will fight the terrorists in Iraq, and we will stay in the fight until we have achieved the victory our brave troops have fought and bled for,'' Bush said in the text of a speech he's scheduled to give later today to soldiers and airmen at Osan Air Base in South Korea.
Murtha, of Pennsylvania, said he would introduce his measure soon and that U.S. forces could be completely out of the Mideast nation within six months. ``Before the Iraqi elections, scheduled for mid-December, the Iraqi people and the emerging government must be put on notice that the United States will immediately redeploy,'' Murtha said at yesterday's Capitol Hill news conference.
Escalated
The debate over the March 2003 invasion of Iraq has escalated in recent weeks with opinion polls showing a majority of Americans now say the war was a mistake. The Republican- controlled Senate on Nov. 15 called on Bush to explain his strategy for withdrawing U.S. troops and report every three months on progress toward that goal.
Murtha's proposal would call for creation of a ``quick- reaction force'' in or near Iraq as well as an ``over-the-horizon presence of Marines.'' The plan calls for the U.S. to pursue security and stability in Iraq through diplomacy.
Last Updated: November 18, 2005 18:59 EST
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