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Iraq Transition

Anti-war House Dems demand 'clear timeline' for pullout

Story Highlights

NEW: "Out of Iraq Caucus" challenges Democrats to assume the political risk
• 75-member caucus accused White House of playing "chicken" with the war
• House speaker meets with caucus members; no deal announced
• Pentagon says 2,200 more MPs needed for Baghdad crackdown
From Andrea Koppel
CNN
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Anti-war House members Wednesday urged colleagues to set a "clear timeline" for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, challenging Democrats to assume the political risk of ending the war.

In a letter to party colleagues, leaders of the "Out of Iraq Caucus" accused the Bush administration of playing a game of "chicken" with the war, "where whoever acts to bring a responsible end to their failed policy will be accused of having lost Iraq."

"There is no question that moving to stop this folly carries a political risk -- the accusation that Democrats gave up on the Vietnam War, despite all evidence that it was an unwinnable conflict, hurt the party's credibility on national security issues for a generation," they wrote.

But they argue that costs of the war have become "unsustainable," damaging efforts to battle terrorism and costing the Treasury more than $8 billion a month.

"The longer we allow the administration to delay meaningful movement, and the longer we fail to extract ourselves from this quagmire, the more dangerous this failed foreign policy becomes to America and the rest of the world," they say.

The Out of Iraq Caucus claims to include about 75 House members -- nearly a third of the Democratic majority. The signers of Wednesday's letter include Reps. Barbara Lee, Lynn Woolsey, Sam Farr and Maxine Waters of California; and Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Maurice Hinchey of New York.

The letter calls for Congress to set a timetable for pulling American troops out of Iraq and to fully fund their withdrawal. A Democratic congressional source told CNN that members are debating whether that timeline would span six months or until the end of 2007.

The deaths of three U.S. troops in an explosion Wednesday northwest of Baghdad raised the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war to 3,180. Seven American civilian contractors of the military also have died in the conflict. At least 13 have died this week, according to the U.S. military. (Wednesday's violence in Iraq)

Support for the war has fallen sharply in the past two years, with published polls indicating about twice as many Americans oppose President Bush's handling of the war as support it.

But since assuming control of Congress in January with what leaders called a mandate to change course in Iraq, Democrats have struggled to craft acceptable, binding legislation to force the administration to bring U.S. troops home.

Anticipating Republican accusations that its members want Congress to micromanage the military, the Out of Iraq Caucus says its proposal is actually "macromanagement." And they argue the move would force GOP representatives to defend their support for the ongoing conflict, "which is a debate that Democrats win every time."

The House passed a nonbinding resolution opposing Bush's deployment of more than 21,000 additional troops to Iraq in February. Seventeen GOP members joined Democrats in supporting that resolution.

Measures rebuking the president on the war face a tougher battle on the Senate side. Senate Democrats failed to garner the 60 votes they needed to consider their own nonbinding resolution opposing Bush's troop increase. The vote was 56-34, with seven Republicans crossing the aisle to vote with senators who oppose the troop buildup.

Pelosi meets with caucus

With the administration seeking another $100 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi must bridge significant differences of opinion and strategy among Democrats.

A growing number of Democratic House members are refusing to vote for more war spending, while more conservative members from states that have supported Bush worry that putting conditions on military funds could tie the hands of U.S. commanders on the ground.

Pelosi, a California Democrat, and other party leaders are trying to find common ground with Lee and Waters, who have signaled that unless they are given a vote on an amendment to fully fund a withdrawal by a certain date, then caucus members would vote against the spending bill.

The speaker met with caucus members Wednesday evening in hopes of heading off a potentially embarrassing public showdown with fellow Democrats, but no resolution was immediately announced.

Lee told reporters the meeting had been "very constructive" and that the two sides had "shared goals," but she questioned "whether those shared goals can be enforced."

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat, said Pelosi was "still perfecting her proposal," and he expected to learn more about it when the Democratic caucus meets Thursday morning.

The anti-war group has given a cool reception to a plan floated by Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, to add specific readiness conditions to war spending that would effectively limit the deployment of U.S. troops. Murtha's plan would also include a presidential waiver to allow Bush to ask Congress to bypass certain restrictions if he felt it necessary.

Nadler said that provision rendered Murtha's proposal "meaningless."

Size of 'surge' grows

The caucus made its appeal as Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of the U.S.-led multinational forces, has requested an additional 2,200 military police to handle an expected rise in the number of detainees resulting from a Baghdad security crackdown.

The defense secretary said that the additional MPs would come on top of the 21,500 combat troops President Bush's plan is sending, and in addition to the 2,400 other troops allotted to support them.

"That's a new requirement by a new commander," Gates said of Petraeus, who took command in Baghdad last month. Without giving details, he said that other troop requests were under review at the Pentagon.

Gates noted "some very preliminary positive signs" resulting from the Baghdad operation.

Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at the same news briefing that the number of bombings has risen in recent days, while the number of sectarian murders has dropped.

Gates said the increased numbers of people killed in bombings was no surprise.

"We expected that there would be in the short term an increase in violence as the surge began to make itself felt," Gates said.

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U.S. soldiers with the 82nd Airborne Divison take combat positions during searches Wednesday in Baghdad.

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