Top Dem Urges Colleagues to Push on Iraq

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, left, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Peter Pace, brief the media at the Pentagon in Washington, Wednesday, April 11, 2007. Gates announced that, beginning immediately, all active-duty Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will serve 15-month tours, three months longer than the usual standard. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson) (Lawrence Jackson - AP)

WASHINGTON -- A memo from a top House Democrat says party leaders must not yield to White House pressure on Iraq and should cast President Bush as increasingly detached from public opinion.

Bush has said he will not negotiate with Democrats on legislation that would finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September if it sets an end date for the Iraq war. Holding only a narrow majority in Congress, Democrats do not have enough votes to override the president's veto.

In a memo to party leaders, Rep. Rahm Emanuel says that as long as Democrats continue to ratchet up the pressure on Bush, the president loses ground.

If Bush continues to refuse to negotiate, his "continued insistence on a blank check for the war will only further damage his standing with the American people," wrote Emanuel, D-Ill., a member of the House Democratic leadership.

Emanuel said he believes Democrats should continue to push to negotiate with the president. Despite differences, "there are areas of agreement that should offer fertile ground for negotiation and compromise," he wrote.

The memo comes as Defense Secretary Robert Gates cautiously offered the possibility that troops could begin drawing down next winter.

Gates said the decision to extend the deployments of U.S. troops from one year to 15 months "gets all the bad news out at once." But, he added, "the new news that may come sometime next winter is, 'Oh, by the way, you don't have to go, or you're not going to be extended.'"

Asked if he thinks that may happen next winter, he said, "I think it's a possibility."

Gates made the comments to reporters as he was traveling home from a meeting with defense ministers in Quebec.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was in lock step Thursday with the House's approach, insisting Democrats will send Bush a bill by the end of the month that would include some sort of timetable for withdrawing troops.

"Certainly we're not going to back down on what we think is right for the country," said Reid, D-Nev.

Reid said he will accept the president's invitation to meet next week at the White House, along with Republican and Democratic leaders. But, he said, he will insist the meeting be a two-way discussion.