Democrats unveil plan for troop withdrawal from Iraq

In a direct challenge to US President George Bush, Democrats in the House of Representatives today announced they will push legislation setting a timetable for the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq.

The Democratic plan, said House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, will bring an "orderly and responsible close" to American participation in Iraq's "civil war".

The proposal would require the withdrawal of US combat troops by the last three months of 2008, officials had said last night.

The announcement comes a day after the Pentagon approved a request by the new US commander in Iraq for an extra 2,200 military police to help deal with an anticipated increase in detainees during the current Baghdad security crackdown.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates said early indications that the Iraqi government was meeting the commitments it made to bolster security, although he cautioned that it was too early to reach any firm conclusions about the outcome.

"We're right at the very beginning," he said at a Pentagon news conference. "But I would say that based in terms of whether the Iraqis are meeting the commitments that they've made to us in the security arena, I think that our view would be so far, so good."

He was referring to the movement of additional Iraqi troops into the capital.

Mr Gates said that the request for extra MPs was in addition to the 21,500 combat troops that President George Bush was sending for the Baghdad security plan, along with 2,400 support troops.

Gordon England, the deputy defence secretary, told Congress this week that the number of required support troops could reach 7,000.

"That's a new requirement by a new commander," Mr Gates said of the request for more soldiers by Gen. David Petraeus, who assumed command in Baghdad last month.

He added that there were other troop requests still being considered in the Pentagon; he gave no specifics.

The day-to-day commander of US troops in Iraq, Lt Gen Raymond Odierno, has recommended that the higher troop level be maintained until February 2008, The New York Times reported on its website last night.

Odierno said the extra troops were needed to support a sustained effort to win over the Iraqi populace.

House Democratic leaders, meanwhile, intend to propose legislation requiring the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq by the autumn of 2008, and even earlier if the Iraqi government fails to meet security and other goals, Democratic officials said last night.

The conditions, described as tentative until presented to the Democratic rank and file, would be added to legislation providing nearly $100bn (€76.18bn) the Bush administration has requested for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the officials said.

The legislation is expected on the floor of the House later this month, and would mark the most direct challenge to date the new Democratic-controlled Congress has posed to the president's war policies.

Mr Gates said it was not a surprise that Sunni insurgents had launched increased attacks in recent days.

"I think that we expected that there would be in the short term an increase in violence as the surge began to make itself felt," Mr Gates said, adding that there were other "very preliminary positive signs" that the Baghdad security plan is working.