The House Votes

The AP reported yesterday:

The Iraqi government is achieving only spotty military and political progress, the Bush administration conceded Thursday in an assessment that war critics quickly seized on as confirmation of their dire warnings. Within hours, the House voted to withdraw U.S. troops by spring.

The House measure passed 223-201 in the Democratic-controlled chamber despite a veto threat from President Bush, who has ruled out any change in war policy before September.

The measure, H.R. 2956, is called the "Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act" begins with a "Sense of Congress" by pointing out that the Authorization For Use Of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution (AUMF):

...authorized the President to use the Armed Forces as the President determined necessary and appropriate in order to defend the national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by the Government of Iraq at that time;

And since:

the Government of Iraq which was in power at the time the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 was enacted into law has been removed from power and its leader indicted, tried, convicted, and executed by the new freely-elected democratic Government of Iraq;

So I guess it's time to end this thing.

The next sections outline a reduction to "a limited presence of the armed forces in Iraq" and then describe how the President, basically, has to explain his general Iraq strategy to the various committees of the Congress, including a justification of the size of the "limited presence" and its duration.

It's called "oversight" and it's what's supposed to be done (it was supposed to have been done all along) by Congress.

The bill passed the House 223-201. Locals Altmire, Doyle and Murtha voting for, Tim Murphy voting against.