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June 19, 2006

Reed behind plan to withdraw some troops from Iraq

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats this week will propose withdrawing some troops from Iraq this year in an effort "to prod the president'' toward a major policy shift -- an explicit warning to Iraqi leaders that the U.S. military commitment there is not open-ended, according to U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, one of the architects of the legislation.

The amendment to the 2007 defense authorization bill has already drawn sharp criticism from Republicans. Its consideration, as early as tomorrow, could continue the markedly partisan debate on Iraq that began last week in the House of Representatives but failed to produce a consensus among Democrats on how the United States should proceed in the war.

Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the measure's chief sponsor, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., unveiled it during a news conference in the Capitol today.

Their measure is not legally binding on President Bush, does not specify how many troops ought to be redeployed out of Iraq and seeks no timetable for removing the U.S. fighting force. Thus, the resolution is far more cautious than the proposal by U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass., to withdraw the bulk of the U.S. force from Iraq by the end of this year.

-- John E. Mulligan, Journal Washington bureau

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 5:02 PM | Permalink

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