U.S. Senate passes Iraq withdrawal bill

    WASHINGTON, March 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would require President George W. Bush to bring all combat troops home from Iraq within a year.

    On a 51-to-47 vote, Democrats narrowly pushed through the 122-billion-U.S. dollar war funding bill, which includes a timeline to pull out all U.S. combat troops by March 31, 2008. Full story

Bush rules out negotiation on Iraq timetable

    WASHINGTON, March 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush vowed Wednesday not to negotiate with Congress on setting a timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq.

    In a speech delivered to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Bush said the American people would blame lawmakers if there is any delay in approving money for the war effort due tolegislative battle over such a timetable. Full story

Poll: Most Americans support Iraq withdrawal timeline

    WASHINGTON, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Most Americans support the U.S. House provision setting a timetable that calls for most U.S. troops to be out of Iraq by September 2008, said a survey released on Wednesday.

    According to the CBS News poll, 59 percent of those surveyed favored the provision while 37 percent opposed it.

    The poll was conducted before Tuesday's Senate vote to include a non-binding withdrawal timetable in its version of legislation to provide continued funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Full story

U.S. Democrats win Senate vote on Iraq withdrawal timeline

    WASHINGTON, March 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senate Democrats won a key vote on Tuesday that clears the way for setting a date by which most U.S. troops would be required to leave Iraq, CBS News reported.

    Democrats defeated by a vote of 50-48 the Republican effort to strip language from the 122 billion-U.S. dollar Iraq supplemental spending bill that will require most combat soldiers to leave Iraq within a year, according to the report.

    Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel and Gordon Smith voted with the Democrats.  Full story

Key U.S. House panel OKs Iraq withdrawal plan

    WASHINGTON, March 15 (Xinhua) -- A key panel of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday endorsed a plan to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by September next year.

    On a 36-28 vote, the Appropriations Committee approved a 124-billion-U.S.-dollar emergency spending bill, which also sets the above deadline for troop withdrawal.

    The move marked the first time a congressional committee voted to limit the duration of the war.

    The full House is expected to debate the bill next week.  Full story