The Democrat-controlled US House of Representatives has passed a motion for US combat troops to leave Iraq by next April.
The vote follows the release of an interim White House report yesterday which gave the Iraqi government a mixed review in meeting political and security goals.
Following the release of the report, President George W. Bush put off changing course in Iraq for at least two months yesterday.
US President George W Bush pauses during a press conference in the White House yesterday Photo: Reuters
In a symbolic move, the House voted 223-201 last night to approve legislation to bring combat troops out of Iraq by April 1st, 2008. Only four Republican representatives supported the motion, while ten conservatie Democrats voted against it.
Defying a veto threat from Mr Bush, House Democrats hope the vote will put pressure on the Senate to attach a similar troop withdrawal timetable to a military policy bill it is debating.
Two previous efforts either died in the Senate or were vetoed by Mr Bush.
Trying to buy time in the face of a growing revolt among fellow Republicans over his Iraq strategy, Mr Bush last night urged lawmakers to withhold judgment until he receives a broader assessment in September from Gen David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, and US ambassador Ryan Crocker.
"We'll also have a clearer picture of how the new strategy is unfolding and be in a better position to judge where we need to make any adjustments," the president told a news conference.
Mr Bush conceded that "war fatigue" had set in among the US public and Congress but that it was premature to talk about bringing US forces home, less than a month after all of an additional 28,000 troops had arrived as part of a new attempt to boost security.
Mr Bush said he would consider "making another decision, if need be" when the next report is released.
Holding his first news conference in nearly two months, Mr Bush's tone was at times strident, at times beseeching, as he defended the US role in a war that has killed over 3,600 US troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis.
A USA Today/Gallup poll this week showed more than 70 per cent of Americans favour withdrawing nearly all US troops by April, and several surveys show Mr Bush's approval ratings the lowest of any American president in decades.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meanwhile defended the Baghdad government's mixed report card against critics in Congress today, saying the Bush administration needs another two months to find a "coherent way forward" in Iraq.
"We do have to recognize what a hard thing it is that they're doing. We have to continue to support them, and most importantly, we need not to make premature judgments," Dr Rice told NBC's Todayshow.
"They're trying to bring about these fundamental changes," she said.
The United States could begin withdrawing troops from northern Iraq in January, the commander of US forces for the region said today.
Army Maj Gen Benjamin Mixon said a drawdown could take place over 12 to 18 months if US and Iraqi forces continued to make progress in establishing security in his area. But he cautioned against any reduction of forces in northern Iraq this year.
"I think that over time in a very methodical and well thought-out way -and I'm only speaking for Multi-national Division North -that we could have a reduction of force that could begin in January of 2008," Mixon said.
Mixon's area of responsibility includes Iraqi cities such as Kirkuk, Tikrit and Mosul as well as the volatile province of Diyala, the scene of a major U.S. military operation in recent weeks against the militant group al Qaeda in Iraq.