Reuters | Friday, 16 February 2007
WASHINGTON: US Republican John Murtha, a leading congressional opponent of the war in Iraq, on Thursday said his plans for placing conditions on how President George W. Bush can spend $US93.4 ($NZ136.27) billion in new combat funds would effectively stop an American troop buildup.
"They won't be able to continue. They won't be able to do the deployment. They won't have the equipment, they don't have the training and they won't be able to do the work. There's no question in my mind," the Pennsylvania Democrat said.
As the chairman of a House of Representatives panel that oversees military spending, Murtha plans to advance legislation next month attaching strings to the additional war funds Bush requested on February 5.
Murtha hopes to choke off the 4-year-old war in Iraq by placing four conditions on combat funds through Sept. 30:
The Pentagon would have to certify that troops being sent to Iraq are "fully combat ready" with training and equipment; troops must have at least one year at home between combat deployments; combat assignments could not be extended beyond one year; a "stop-loss" programme forcing soldiers to extend their enlistment periods would be prohibited.
"We're trying to force a redeployment not by taking money away, by redirecting money," Murtha said, adding he wants US funds to be slanted more toward diplomacy and Iraq reconstruction.
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