House to debate Iraq troop withdrawals

By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic-led House of Representatives will try again to end U.S. combat in Iraq when it debates legislation this week tying new war funds to troop withdrawals, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday.

The legislation, similar to a bill President George W. Bush vetoed earlier this year, "gives voice to the concerns of the American people" over a war that is now in its fifth year and "with no light at the end of the tunnel," said Pelosi, a California Democrat.

As early as Friday, the House will debate the plan that would give Bush only $50 billion of the $196 billion in new funds he has asked for to continue fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of the money would go to Iraq.

Congress is expected to consider the rest of the funding next year.

The House has repeatedly passed legislation this year aimed at ending the Iraq war, only to see it die in the Senate at the hands of Republicans or killed by Bush.

The bill also would specifically outlaw torture by U.S. officials. Bush says torture is already prohibited, but refuses to disclose U.S. interrogation methods.

Torture became a key issue at attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey's Senate confirmation hearings when the retired judge refused to say if he considered waterboarding -- simulated drowning -- to be torture.

Pelosi said the legislation would provide $50 billion in war funding for four more months. As they have done in the past, House Democrats will try to attach conditions requiring the Pentagon to immediately begin withdrawing some of the 169,000 troops in Iraq, with the goal of completing the withdrawal by December 2008.