WASHINGTON, March 20: President George W. Bush will veto a congressional move to link war-funding to the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by September 2008, the White House said

on Monday.

“This legislation would substitute the mandates of Congress for the considered judgment of our military commanders,” said a White House policy statement.

The opposition Democrats are seeking a vote in the House of Representative on a $124 billion spending bill, $95.5 billion of which is targeted for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

They have, however, attached a condition to this bill that would effectively require the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by the fall of 2008.

In a message to his nation on the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war, President Bush urged the Democrats on Monday not to link emergency war spending to a timetable for withdrawing troops.

He said the “option is to pack up and go home … may be satisfying in the short run. But I believe the consequences for America's security would be devastating.”

Hours later, the White House issued a policy statement saying that the president would veto the bill if members of Congress used it to seek a withdrawal.

“This bill assumes and forces the failure of the new strategy even before American commanders in the field are fully able to implement their plans,” the White House said. “Regardless of the success our troops are achieving in the field, this bill would require their withdrawal.”

Reporting the statement, the US media noted on Tuesday that while the White House routinely comments on legislation pending in Congress, this policy statement was different. A senior Bush administration official told CNN that the early timing of the veto threat was unique -- coming before Congress had even assigned a number to the legislation.

Although the Iraq war has become extremely unpopular in the US, President Bush has ordered more than 20,000 new troops to the Arab country this year, a move that has upset opponents of the war and prompted Democratic leaders in Congress to offer withdrawal legislation. “The American people have lost confidence in President Bush's plan for a war without end in Iraq," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an Associated Press report. “That failed approach has been rejected by the voters in our nation and it will be rejected by the Congress.”

Along with the policy statement, the White House also issued a fact sheet, saying that Iraqi security forces are stepping up to take control of their country's security and the Iraqis are beginning to meet benchmarks to achieve political reconciliation.

The fact sheet also declared that millions of Iraqis have risked their lives to secure a democratic future for their nation, “and America will not abandon them in their hour of need.”