Require Bush to report on redeploying troops in Iraq

THE ISSUE While Basra city is falling into control by Shia militia, the House rejected a proposal to report on redeployment of U.S. troops.

AN illustration of what is likely to happen in Iraq in the event of a sudden withdrawal of U.S. troops is occurring in the country's south, where British troops have dwindled in recent months. Bipartisan pressure on the White House in the form of a bill proposed by U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie is needed to clarify the time and strategy needed to complete a troop redeployment without creating the chaos resulting from departure of British troops from Basra.

Britain sent 40,000 troops to Iraq, mainly the southern part, in 2003, comprising the largest complement to U.S. forces. Only 9,000 remained in early 2005, and that has been reduced to 5,500 in recent months, which also is the deadliest period for British soldiers. More than 30 have been killed since April, bringing the country's death toll to 168.

Most of southern Iraq, where few U.S. troops are present, has been relatively calm. In recent months, British troops have been moving from their base in Basra city to a nearby air base with the intent of turning over the city to Iraqis. Meanwhile, the air base has been under siege by the militias.

"Basra's residents and militiamen view this not as an orderly withdrawal, but rather as an ignominious defeat," the Brussels-based International Crisis Group on Basra reported in June. "Today the city is controlled by militias, seemingly more powerful and unconstrained than before."

The exit of British troops will require thousands of U.S. troops to defend Iraq's border with Iran and secure the 300-mile road between Baghdad and Kuwait, where 2,000 trucks a day carry food and supplies to American soldiers in the north. It is not a region that can be conceded even temporarily.

Most Democratic presidential candidates who have been calling for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq realize that it will need to be an orderly process taking at least a year to complete. President Bush refuses even to consider such a scenario.

Before the current congressional recess, Abercrombie crafted a measure that would require the White House to report within two months a plan to redeploy U.S. troops in Iraq. The proposal passed the House Armed Services Committee, of which Abercrombie is a subcommittee chairman, by a vote of 55-2.

"We attracted the overwhelming majority of Republicans to go with us, which is the most powerful element working in this right now," Abercrombie told the Politico, a new Internet magazine. "If you keep passing bills on issues that have a bare majority, then it becomes Democrats versus Republicans and people make up their own minds as to who is really participating and who isn't."

Abercrombie's bill was blocked by the House leadership to prevent Republican House members from distancing themselves from Bush during the recess. When Congress goes back into session, the bill should be at the top of the agenda.