WASHINGTON (AP):

Senate Democrats ignored a veto threat and pushed through a bill yesterday requiring President George W. Bush to start withdrawing U.S. troops from "the civil war in Iraq," dealing a rare, sharp rebuke to the president as a wartime commander in chief.

In a mostly party line 51-47 vote, the Senate signed off on a bill providing $123 billion (euro92.1 billion) to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It also orders Bush to begin withdrawing troops within 120 days of passage, while setting a nonbinding goal of ending combat operations by March 31, 2008.

The vote came shortly after Bush, in a move that his aides said was unprecedented, invited all Republicans from the House of Representatives to the White House to appear with him in a sort of pep rally to bolster his position in the continuingwar policy fight.

"We stand united in saying loud and clear that when we've got a troop in harm's way, we expect that troop to be fully funded," Bush said, surrounded by Republicans.