President Bush In Denial On Iraq

"The military mission has long since been accomplished. The failure has been political. It has been policy. It has been presidential." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday that President Bush is in "denial" and alone in believing things are getting better in Iraq, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss

Reid said the Democratic-controlled Congress will defy White House veto threats and pass legislation within days requiring the start of a troop withdrawal from Iraq by Oct. 1.The legislation also sets a goal of a complete pullout by April 1, 2008, he said.

Reid spoke a few hours after Mr. Bush said he will reject any legislation along the lines of what Democrats will pass. "I will strongly reject an artificial timetable (for) withdrawal and/or Washington politicians trying to tell those who wear the uniform how to do their job," the president said.

Reid said Mr. Bush was in "a state of denial" over the war, and likened him to another commander in chief four decades ago. "I remember when President Johnson, trying to save his political legacy, initiated the first of many surges into Vietnam in 1965," he said.