Lawmakers Push Resolution on Iraq Pullout

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - President Bush would have to start bringing home U.S. troops from
Iraq by Oct. 1, 2006, under a measure a small bipartisan group of House lawmakers — including a Republican who voted for war — proposed Thursday.

Two Republicans and two Democrats introduced a resolution that would require the president to announce by the end of this year a plan for withdrawing troops and steps for following through on that plan.

It is the first such resolution put forth by lawmakers from both parties, although an overwhelming number of Democrats and six House Republicans voted in 2002 against sending troops to Iraq.

Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said such timetables won't work, suggesting insurgents would simply wait for U.S. forces to withdraw before attacking.

Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, "If you look at it from the insurgents' perspective — they know our history, just like we study them — and they see where we have withdrawn previously, in Vietnam, in Beirut, in Somalia, and nothing would make them happier, I suppose, than to think that there is a deadline out there."

The Bush administration has insisted that a timetable for withdrawal can't be considered until Iraq's security forces are strong enough to protect their country from insurgents.

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