Bill to limit U.S. in Iraq advances

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The Democrat-controlled Congress yesterday moved to limit U.S. combat operations in Iraq immediately and withdraw troops as early as July, hardening its stance for a veto showdown with President Bush over war funding.

Congressional negotiators from both chambers agreed to the new language yesterday afternoon, hours after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Congress will no longer "turn a blind eye to the Bush administration's incompetence and dishonesty."

"Yes, he is the president, but we are the people's representatives," the Nevada Democrat said. "Instead of sending us back to square one with a veto, some tough talk and nothing more, let him come to the table in the spirit of bipartisanship that Americans demand and deserve."

The bill passed the conference committee and heads to a final vote tomorrow in the House and Thursday in the Senate.

The president vows to veto any legislation that dictates war strategy, and the standoff with Congress threatens to stall $100 billion in funding for U.S. forces in Iraq even as the Pentagon raids other military accounts to pay for the war until July.

"Politicians in Washington shouldn't be telling generals how to do their job," Mr. Bush said after a briefing by Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, who is conducting the troop surge now under way in Baghdad.

"An artificial timetable of withdrawal would say to an enemy, 'just wait them out,' " the president said. "It would say to the Iraqis, 'don't do hard things necessary to achieve our objectives.' And it would be discouraging for our troops."

Mr. Reid outlined the new strategy in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, saying that "despite the president's happy talk, no progress has been made."

"Our first step: immediately transitions the U.S. mission away from policing a civil war to training and equipping Iraqi security forces, protecting U.S. forces and conducting targeted counterterror operations," Mr. Reid said.

"U.S. troops should not be interjecting themselves between warring factions, kicking down doors, trying to sort Shia from Sunni or friend from foe."