Saint Harry Reid Predicts Victory

Democrats predict they can win Iraq vote: "Democrats predicted the bill would pass, albeit narrowly, while Republicans said setting a timetable on the war would hand a victory to terrorists.

Several House members said they would not try to block the bill negotiated with the Senate in a bid for party unity despite their desire for an earlier, binding withdrawal date.

'We need to claim victory for our soldiers,' said Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas. 'They have done their job. It's time to bring them home now.'

The House vote scheduled Wednesday comes as the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and other defense officials try to convince lawmakers that a timetable would push Iraq into chaos. Bush's promise guarantees a historic confrontation with Democrats emboldened by last year's election, which handed them control of Congress.

'For the first time, the president will have to be accountable for this war in Iraq,' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., said Tuesday. 'And he does not want to face that reality.'

The $124.2 billion bill would fund, among other things, the war in Iraq but trigger the withdrawal of troops beginning this fall. It sets a nonbinding goal of completing the pullout by April 1, 2008."