MoveOn.org blasts Congress vote on Iraq

WASHINGTON, May 25 (UPI) -- MoveOn.org has slammed moderate Democrats as well as Republicans for scrapping withdrawal timelines on funding for the Iraq war.

"Republicans, joined by some Democrats, once again endorsed President Bush's policy of failure in Iraq and obstructed the will of the American people," Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action, said in a statement Wednesday following the controversial vote in the U.S. House of Representatives that evening.

"Voters elected this Congress to lead the country out of the mess in Iraq. The vote tonight was a failure to act on that mandate," Pariser said. "We expect great political fallout for all of the representatives -- Republican and Democrat -- who stood in the way. Our members will be working to hold them accountable through organizing on the ground, advertisements on TV and every other mechanism we have in the months ahead."

Pariser said MoveOn.org had praise for "the 140 Democrats and 2 Republicans who stood up and voted for an end to the war tonight. Their leadership won't be forgotten."

"We are encouraged by the majority of House Democrats who voted against this weak bill, and by the great majority of the country who wants to see the war end. Tonight's vote is a temporary setback, but the political wind is at our back, and this will be the last Iraq bill that President Bush signs without timelines or teeth," he said.

The MoveOn.org statement reflected the determination of U.S. anti-war activists to hold centrist Democrats who did not want to confront President Bush on the timelines issue as accountable as his traditional GOP supporters.