US House Votes for April 2008 Iraq Withdrawal Target(2/3)

Republicans sought to put a positive spin on the report, with Congressman Duncan Hunter urging lawmakers not to vote to change policy until the September report from U.S. Iraq commander General David Petraeus.

"This is an attempt once again to stampede a retreat from Iraq, and it is a gratuitous attempt to do this.

House Foreign Affairs chairman Tom Lantos suggested that far from demonstrating progress, the administration report on Iraq reflects setbacks.

"With every car bomb that takes civilian toll, every insurgent's bullet that finds it mark, every roadside explosive that maims or kills one of our own brave men and women in uniform, the sacrifices mount and the result is anything but satisfactory."

Before the final vote, House Republican minority leader John Boehner made a final appeal to lawmakers to vote against the measure, asserting it would embolden al-Qaida in Iraq, and terrorists around the world.

"This bill we have before us makes our troops pawns in a partisan political battle. I don't think that is what anyone wants. I think this bill undermines General Petraeus, undermines the mission he has to make Iraq and America safe."