Finding the key facts beyond the rhetoric

Congress sent the president an Iraqi War Supplemental Funding Bill yesterday. Even before the votes were cast, Bush was denouncing the legislation for setting an arbitrary date for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, which he says will only embolden the terrorists.

So what day will the last soldier in Iraq come home? See if you can find it in the text of H.R. 1591.

Don’t feel bad if you can’t find it. It isn’t there. In fact, while the bill requires troops to begin returning home in October, there isn’t a day set in stone that America would abandon all operations in Iraq.

Congressman Vic Snyder - Ark., who serves on the House Veteran Affairs and Armed Services Committees, points this out in a recent op-ed (subscription required) in Roll Call:

While two alternative timelines for redeployment of our troops are contained in the bill, depending on whether the president makes certain certifications, very broad tasks for American troops in Iraq are specifically authorized at a troop strength level without limitation in number or time.

So U.S. troops can continue to train Iraqi forces indefinitely, and there’s no limit to the number of troops that may be deployed to protect these trainers or American civilians in Iraq. The bill also specifically authorizes U.S. troops to be deployed or maintained to hunt down "al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations with global reach" which, of course, would include Iraq.