House Democrats: Pentagon using scare tactics on war spending

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
In their latest tussle with the White House on the Iraq war, two leading US House Democrats said the Pentagon was using scare tactics to try to goad Congress into passing another war spending bill. And Representatives David Obey and John Murtha said they will not budge. Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Murtha, head of the panel's defense appropriations subcommittee, said Tuesday they will not support more money for the war this year unless President George W. Bush accepts a timetable for troop withdrawals. Last week, the House passed a $50 billion bill that would keep operations afloat for several more months, but sets a goal of bringing most troops home by December 2008. After Bush threatened to veto the measure, Senate Republicans blocked it. "If the president wants that $50 billion released, all he has to do is to call the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, and ask him to stop blocking it," Obey told reporters.