Bush vetoes Iraq pullout legislation
US president George Bush has vetoed legislation to pull US troops out of Iraq in a showdown with Congress over whether the unpopular and costly war should end or escalate.
In only the second veto of his presidency, Bush last night rejected legislation that would have required the first US combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by October 1, with a goal of a complete pull-out six months later.
He vetoed the Bill immediately on his return to the White House from a visit to MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, headquarters of US Central Command, which oversees military operations in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East.
Democrats made a last-minute plea for Bush to sign the Bill, knowing their request would be ignored.
"The president has put our troops in the middle of a civil war," said Senate majority leader Harry Reid. "Reality on the ground proves what we all know: a change of course is needed."
But lacking the votes to override the president, Democratic leaders quietly considered what might be included or kept out of their next version of the €124bn (€91.34bn) spending Bill.
It was a day of high political drama, falling on the fourth anniversary of Bush's "mission accomplished" speech on an aircraft carrier and his declaration that major combat operations in Iraq had ended.
Democrats held an unusual signing ceremony before sending the Bill to the White House.
"This legislation respects the wishes of the American people to end the Iraq war," said Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives.
Bush signed the veto with a pen given to him by Robert Derga, father of Marine Corps Reserve corporal Dustin Derga, who was killed in Iraq on May 8 2005.
The elder Derga met Bush on April 16 when the president hosted military families in the East Room of the White House. Derga asked Bush to promise to use the pen in his veto.
Minutes after Bush vetoed the Bill, an anti-war demonstrator stood outside the White House with a bullhorn and shouted: "How many more must die?"
One option Congress is considering for follow-up legislation would demand the Iraqi government meet certain benchmarks or face the withdrawal of US troops. To avoid another veto, such a Bill would have to allow Bush to waive the restriction.
Today Bush plans to meet congressional leaders from both parties, including the top Democrats, Reid and Pelosi. Past meetings have not led to any compromises, although members said this time they were hopeful Bush would signal a willingness to negotiate.
Separately, Bush has complained about several billion dollars in domestic spending that Democrats put in the Bill, including about 3.5bn (€2.57bn) in disaster aid for farmers.
Some Republicans say they would support tying goals for Iraqi self-defence and democracy to the more-than £2.5bn (€1.84bn) provided to Iraq in foreign aid. But such an idea has not interested Democrats.
When Bush announced a US troop increase in January, he said Iraq's government must crack down on terrorists from both the Shiite and Sunni Islamic sects, equitably distribute oil wealth, refine its constitution and expand democratic participation.
He attached no consequences if these benchmarks were not met.
Tuesday's developments came exactly four years after Bush's speech on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln decorated with a huge "Mission Accomplished" banner.
In that address, a frequent target of Democrats seeking to ridicule the president, he declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".
At the time, Bush's approval rating was 63%, with his public disapproval at 34%.
Four years later, with more than 3,300 US troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis killed in Iraq and the country gripped by unrelenting violence and political uncertainty, only 35% of the public approves of the job the president is doing, while 62% disapprove, according to an April 2-4 poll from AP-Ipsos.
