“Today, this Congress faces an historic vote,” said Rep. Rahm Emanuel as he addressed the House on a war spending bill that will require U.S. combat troops to withdraw by the fall of 2008. “It is time, after four years… that we ask the Iraqis to do for Iraq what they have asked us to do for four years, and that is to be accountable for their own future,” said Emanuel.
Democrats have said that it is time for the Iraqis to play a larger role in the war as they began pushing legislation through a House committee that is aimed at forcing President Bush to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq next year. Their Senate counterparts struggled just to get their war debate off the ground. The House Appropriations Committee was expected to vote later Thursday on a $124 billion spending bill that includes $95.5 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure was expected to pass narrowly, mostly along party lines with a few Democratic defectors, paving the way for a floor vote next week.
The White House is ready to ask Congress for more money for President Bush’s plan, which are already hotly debated, to send 21,500 new combat troops into Iraq. The move would pay for support personnel and otherwise update last month’s request for the Iraq war. It probably will draw criticism from Democrats who say the Pentagon had low-balled estimates of the costs of Bush’s plan for improving security in Baghdad and Anbar province. The latest request could come as early as Tuesday, modifying last month’s $93.4 billion request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through Sept. 30.
It was reported to us on Thursday that the two-star general, Walter Reed, who is in charge of the Army Medical Center has been releived of his command. It was said that he was giving inadequate treatment to wounded soldiers.
Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who was commanding general of the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command as well as Walter Reed hospital, was relieved of command by Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey. In a brief announcement, the Army said service leaders had “lost trust and confidence” in Weightman’s leadership abilities “to address needed solutions for soldier outpatient care” at Walter Reed.