House passes bill requiring troop withdrawal

The House has passed a bill requiring the Iraqi government to meet certain requirements and the withdrawal of US troops starting March 2008, to be complete by September 2008.  The White House has threatened to veto the bill as setting "arbitrary" deadlines that should be left to military experts as a matter of "military strategy."  But generals have never had the power to decide policy.  How to carry out an occupation is a matter of military strategy, whether to carry out an occupation is a political matter.