US House OKs surge plan for Afghan war
US lawmakers easily approved urgent funding Tuesday for President Barack Obama's military escalation in Afghanistan, despite a huge leak of secret military files that stoked anger at the unpopular war.
The 308-114 vote in the House of Representatives set the stage for Obama to sign the legislation, which provides some $37 billion to fund the conflict in Iraq and pay for his "surge" of 33,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
More than 100 Democrats voted against the measure, which also provides funds for disaster relief in Haiti.
The House also beat back a blunt challenge to Obama's war strategy, defeating a resolution calling for the removal of US forces from Pakistan by a crushing 38-372 margin.
However, lawmakers - who face a war-weary public in November mid-term elections - argued passionately about the nearly 9-year-old conflict and Obama's plan to right the faltering campaign in time to start a draw-down by July 2011.
"Wake up America. Wikileaks' release of secret war documents gave us 92,000 reasons to end the wars. Pick one," Democratic Representative Dennis Kucinich said as debate began.
According to CNN, the leaked files reveal a conflict among Afghan security forces, including attacks on one another, as well as heavy drug use among sol-diers.
"The Afghan government has not demonstrated the focused determination, reliability and judgment necessary to bring this effort to a rational and successful conclusion," Democratic Representative Dave Obey said after the vote.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon is now focusing on Pfc (Private First Class) Bradley Manning, a military intelligence analyst charged with providing classified documents and video to Wikileaks earlier this year.
Manning, 22, was charged by the military earlier this month with illegally taking and disseminating a classified video as well as secret State Department files, the newspaper said, adding that a decision on whether to court-martial him is expected in August.
However, Wikileaks' editor-in-chief Julian Assange once again claimed that his organization doesn't know who sent those secret files, according to the AP.
"We never know the source of the leak," he told journalists at London's Frontline Club late Tuesday. "Our whole system is designed such that we don't have to keep that secret."
As the US Army opened a criminal investigation into the Wikileaks disclosures, Obama said the documents showed he was right to craft a new Afghan war-fighting approach and vowed to stick with it.
"We have to see that strategy through," said the president, who said the leaked documents "don't reveal any issues that haven't already informed our public debate on Afghanistan."
Agencies
