Money agreed for Iraq military operations

US President George Bush signed a bill to pay for military operations in Iraq after a bitter struggle with Democrats in Congress who sought unsuccessfully to tie the money to US troop withdrawals.

Bush signed the bill into law yesterday at the Camp David presidential retreat where he is spending part of the American holiday weekend.

In announcing the signing, White House spokesman Tony Fratto noted it came 109 days after Bush sent his emergency spending request to Congress.

Bush had rejected an earlier bill because it contained a timetable for withdrawing troops. His signature on this measure, however, does not end debate in Congress over the administration’s war policy, a dispute that will heat up again in coming months.

“I think the president’s policy is going to begin to unravel now,” said the leader of the House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who expressed disappointment that the bill did not force an end to US participation in the conflict.

Democrats say the drive to bring US troops home is far from over.

“We’re going to keep coming back and coming back,” said Rep Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the Democratic caucus.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell predicted a change and said Bush would show the way.

“I think that the handwriting is on the wall that we are going in a different direction in the autumn, and I expect the president to lead it,” McConnell said. “In other words, I think he, himself, has certainly indicated he’s not happy with where we are.”

The president applauded the bipartisan effort to get an emergency supplemental bill to his desk by the weeklong congressional recess for the American Memorial Day holiday starting this weekend.

“This effort shows what can happen when people work together,” Bush said after visiting wounded troops earlier at the National Naval Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland. “We’ve got a good bill that didn’t have timetables or tell the military how to do its job, but also sent a clear signal to the Iraqis that there’s expectations here in America ... about how to move forward.”

McConnell also emphasised that the Iraqis need to make progress. “We’ve given the Iraqi government an opportunity here to have a normal country. And so far, they’ve been a great disappointment to members of the Senate on both sides,” he said.