US:The United States House of Representatives has taken the first step in a confrontation with President George Bush over the Iraq war by passing a resolution condemning his decision to send more US troops there.
Seventeen Republicans joined the Democratic majority to back the resolution, which was passed by 246 votes to 182, with six members not voting.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi described the vote as "historic", claiming that it marked the beginning of a new direction in US policy on Iraq. "The stakes in Iraq are too high to recycle proposals that have little prospect for success. The passage of this legislation will signal a change in direction in Iraq that will end the fighting and bring our troops home," she said.
Republicans said the vote was the first step in a Democratic plan to cut off funding for the war, a plan that would lead to a humiliating defeat for the US in Iraq.
"Their so-called slow-bleed approach is the bite that will surely hurt those fighting under America's flag overseas. This non-binding resolution is the first step in an all too binding spiral toward defeat in a fight that we cannot afford to lose," said Missouri's Roy Blunt, the second-ranking Republican in the House.
The Senate will today vote on a procedural motion to allow a similar debate next week, but a dispute between Democrats and Republicans over how many competing resolutions to consider makes a debate unlikely.
Yesterday's non-binding vote will have no direct impact on the president's plan to send more than 20,000 extra troops to Iraq, the first deployment of which is already in place. Democrats hope to stop the surge by attaching conditions to a $100 billion request for extra funding for the war, which the House will consider early next month.
John Murtha, chairman of the powerful House appropriations defence subcommittee, said the committee would attach conditions to the funding that would not allow Mr Bush to extend the tours of US forces or send troops that have not had a year between tours to retrain and re-equip.
"That stops the surge, for all intents and purposes. They know they can't sustain the surge if these restrictions pass the House and Senate. The president can always veto it, but then he won't have any money," Mr Murtha said this week.
Republicans have promised to resist the Democratic plan, arguing that it will leave US forces under-funded and vulnerable to attack.
"While American troops are fighting radical Islamic terrorists thousands of miles away, it is unthinkable that the United States Congress would move to discredit their mission, cut off their reinforcements and deny them the resources they need to succeed and return home safely, " said John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House. "The American people will not support a strategy that involves pulling the rug out from under American troops in the combat zone by cutting off their reinforcements and forcing them to face the enemy without our full support."
Yesterday's vote followed four days of debate that saw almost all members of the House speak. Republicans expressed satisfaction that defections from their ranks were fewer than some had predicted and that many Democrats will refuse to back Mr Murtha's proposal to place conditions on extra funding for the war.