Democratic lawmakers are poised this week to send Iraq war funding legislation to US President George W. Bush, who has vowed to veto the measure if it includes a withdrawal timetable. Congressional sources say they expect the final legislation to reach Bush's desk by the end of the week with language setting a withdrawal of combat forces in 2008 as a goal - not a requirement.
But the outcome of the pitched political battle is far from clear, because Democrats lack the votes to override Bush's veto and the White House needs the US Congress to approve new spending for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Democratic congressional sources say they expect to reconcile competing Senate and House of Representatives versions of the 100-billion-dollar measure, and send the compromise version - which sets 2008 withdrawal as a goal instead of a deadline - to Bush by the end of the week.
But the shift from deadline to goal may not make a difference at the White House, where spokeswoman Dana Perino says Bush will veto any legislation that features a timetable or unrelated "pork-barrel" domestic spending.
The showdown comes after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid touched off a Washington firestorm last week when he told reporters "this war is lost."
Democratic lawmakers Sunday steered clear of Reid's comments as Republicans quickly pounced on his words as hurting US troops and military morale.
Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer told Fox news that Reid, in fact, meant only the war "policing a civil war between Shiites and Sunnis" is lost.
"The war is not lost," he said. "And Harry Reid believes this - we Democrats believe it - if we change our mission and focus it more narrowly on counterterrorism, going after an Al-Qaeda camps that might arise in Iraq. "So the bottom line is if the war continues on this path, if we continue to try to police and settle a civil war that's been going on for hundreds of years in Iraq, we can't win," he said.
Senator Arlen Specter told Fox Reid's comments were "very destructive."
But, he added: "Certainly, the war is not being won." "But for the men and women who are over in Iraq, to have somebody of Senator Reid's stature say that the war is lost, I think is just very, very demoralising and not necessary.
For his part, Democratic Senator Chris Dodd, who has his eyes on the White House, also denied the war is lost but said, "the policy's failed."
He told ABC news there could be success in Iraq "if you're willing to define success as stability, of involvement in the neighbouring countries in the region, of providing some means by which these warring elements in the country are going to find some common ground to sit down on.
"I think it's harder for people to come together in some instances when you're standing between them," he said. Dodd has called for US troops to begin leaving Iraq in 2008, saying a deadline would push a political solution.
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