WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush would veto any bill drafted by House Democratic leaders that would fund the Iraq war only into the summer months, his spokesman said Wednesday. And Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a Senate committee that such short-term funding would be very disruptive and ``have a huge impact'' on contracts to repair and replace equipment. The Defense Department, he said, just doesn't ``have the agility to manage a two month appropriation.''Gates also told the Senate Defense Appropriations panel that if the military begins to see progress in Iraq later this fall, including political reconciliation within the Iraqi government, the U.S. could begin withdrawing troops. The Pentagon, he said, is ``looking for the direction of events - we don't have to have it all locked in place and everything complete ... If (we) see some very positive progress and it looks like things are heading in the right direction, then that's the point at which I think we can begin to consider reducing some of those forces.''
He added that ``getting the level of violence in Iraq to point where the political process can go forward and seeing some progress in reconciliation sets the stage for us to begin withdrawing our units ... and allowing those security responsibilities to be assumed by the Iraqis.''
Gates has said commanders in Iraq will provide as assessment of the conditions in Iraq in September. And he said Wednesday that the Iraqis are assuming more security responsibilities day by day, but the U.S. cannot abandon the country prematurely. Doing so, he said, would allow al-Qaida terrorists to use Iraq's western Anbar province as a base to plan operations against the United States.
The Democrats' proposal would pay for the war through July, then give Congress the option of cutting off money after that if conditions do not improve. Bush requested more than $90 billion to fund the war through September.
``There are restrictions on funding and there are also some of the spending items that were mentioned in the first veto message that are still in the bill,'' White House press secretary Tony Snow said on Air Force One traveling with Bush. Asked directly if Bush would veto the House bill in its current form, Snow said, ``Yes.''
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