Congress votes down schedule for withdrawal

A bill that mandates removing troops by Dec. 31 was rejected, 93-6.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress plunged into divisive election-year debate on the Iraq war Thursday as the U.S. military death toll reached 2,500. The Senate soundly rejected a call to withdraw combat troops by year's end, and House Republicans laid the groundwork for their own vote.
In a move Democrats criticized as gamesmanship, Senate Republicans brought up the withdrawal measure and quickly dispatched it -- for now -- on a 93-6 vote.
The proposal would have allowed "only forces that are critical to completing the mission of standing up Iraqi security forces" to remain in Iraq in 2007.
House debates
Across Capitol Hill in a daylong House debate, Republicans defended the Iraq war as a key part of the global fight against terrorism while Democrats assailed President Bush's war policies and called for a new direction in the conflict.
"When our freedom is challenged, Americans do not run," House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said in remarks laden with references to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"This is a war that is a grotesque mistake," countered House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California. She called for a fresh strategy -- "one that will make us safer, strengthen our military, and restore our reputation in the world."
Republicans moved toward a vote on a resolution to reject any timetable for withdrawing U.S. forces.
Congress roared into debate on the three-year conflict four months before midterm elections that will decide the control of both the House and Senate -- and as Bush was trying to rebuild waning public support for the conflict.
The administration was so determined to get its message out that the Pentagon distributed a highly unusual 74-page "debate prep book" filled with ready-made answers for criticism of the war.
As the debates got under way, the Senate sent the president an additional $66 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan -- legislation Bush promptly signed -- and the same day, the Pentagon announced the U.S. death toll for the war had reached 2,500.