US Congressional Democrats renewed their challenge to US President George W. Bush's Iraq war policy on Thursday, offering US$50 billion in interim spending for combat operations coupled to a goal of pulling out most troops within a year.
The plan, which is to be considered in the House and Senate next week, came after a lull in the political conflict over the war. It sought to balance a Democratic desire to keep money flowing to sustain troops overseas with a demand for conditions on the administration's use of those funds.
"I believe that this legislation gives voice to the concerns of the American people and, at the same time, strives to meet the needs of our troops," said the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California.
The Democratic plan was certain to be opposed in the House by many Republicans as well as some strongly anti-war Democrats who want tougher restrictions on the president. In the Senate, where past Democratic efforts to impose a timetable for withdrawals have been stymied by Republican opposition, the proposal is likely to run into a filibuster. But Democrats said such a fight would leave Republicans responsible for slowing the money.
Republicans immediately criticized the proposal, saying that conditions in Iraq have improved in recent months, after the president's troop build-up, and that the Democratic proposal would send the wrong message to fighting personnel.
"As long as we're continuing to have success, as long as our soldiers are continuing to move out of harm's way and have Iraqis more out front, I think that the Congress of the United States will not put these kind of handcuffs on our generals or on our troops," said Representative John Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader. Some Democrats had initially been inclined to sit on the president's nearly US$200 billion request for combat operations until the beginning of next year. But Representative John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat who is a party leader on military issues, and others have argued that it is more responsible to try to provide some of the money now.
If the US$50 billion measure stalls, the Pentagon might have to shift money from non-war accounts to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan into early next year.
At a private meeting with House Democrats where she presented the plan, Pelosi told lawmakers that if the US$50 billion was rejected, Democrats would not move forward with any other Iraq money this year. A source who was there, speaking anonymously because party meetings are supposed to be confidential, quoted Pelosi as saying: "If you don't want that, Mr President, you ain't getting nothing."
The confrontation was part of an intensifying fight between Democrats and Bush over spending. But Congress was preparing on Thursday to send Bush one spending bill he has agreed to sign -- a separate US$470 billion spending bill that covers all Pentagon operations except for the wars.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS