Black congressional leaders marked the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war by stepping up pressure on the White House to complete withdrawal of U.S. troops by next year.

"An exit plan is essential and a date for withdrawal has to be part of winding down this misguided war," Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

"We’re proposing a withdrawal of U.S. troops by August 2008," Conyers said. "Last November, the voters said they want to go in a different direction, and this is setting up the presidential race for a Democratic replacement for President Bush."

This week, Conyers said, House lawmakers will discuss Defense Department funding and will outline their exit plan from Iraq, even as President George W. Bush on Monday appealed to Americans -- and Democrats -- for patience in Iraq, saying the war "will be won if we have the courage and resolve to see it through."

But despite the president’s pleas, Conyers was steadfast.

"We’re proposing that no more funds be allocated for combat troops in Iraq, and we will stop funding it and demand an early withdrawal," Conyers said. "Bush is taking the Republican Party right down the drain. He doesn’t care what Congress said. He doesn’t care what the American people said."

Conyers said he’s also concerned that Bush may try to invade Iran.

"He’s created a dangerous position for America, and he’s the most dangerous occupant of the White House, even in his last days," Conyers said. "We can’t get an impeachment because his time in the White House is short."

A Democratic plan to require the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq passed its first test last week as the House Appropriations Committee voted to endorse the proposal, overcoming Republican opposition.

Members voted 37-27 along party lines to uphold a provision in a $124 billion war spending legislation that calls for troops to leave Iraq before September 2008, and possibly sooner if the Iraqi government does not meet certain benchmarks. Republicans had proposed stripping out the timetable.

The votes gave Democrats a victory, if only for the moment, in their effort to challenge President Bush's war policies and pressure him into starting a withdrawal of U.S. troops.

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Privately, Democrats on Capitol Hill told BlackAmericaWeb.com the Congressional Black Caucus is still negotiating the exact details of a plan to exit Iraq. An "Out of Iraq" caucus led by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) wants stronger language in a proposal to the White House that would call for a political solution in Iraq and withdrawal of troops completed by August 2008.

"This legislation would ensure that our troops can begin coming home before the fifth anniversary of this war passes, and it ensures that we begin redeployment sooner if we are not meeting the president's benchmarks," Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said in a statement.

"If we are not making progress in Iraq," Cummings said, "we have no reason to be there."

The House plan, however, appears to have little chance of getting through the Senate, where Democrats have a slimmer majority. Republicans can use procedural moves to block the troop withdrawal language, and the White House has threatened to veto the bill if it contains the provision forcing the removal of troops.

Colorado state Sen. Peter C. Groff, publisher of Blackpolicy.org and executive director of the Center for African American Policy at the University of Denver, said Democrats are on a political slippery slope.

"Democrats are really rolling the dice with this latest round of proposals," Groff told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

"The dilemma of withdrawal places Democrats between a rock and a hard place since their success this past November hinged on voter disillusionment with the Iraq War," Groff said. "Voters will expect results and are sure to grade Democrats in 2008. But, it's difficult to press for withdrawal without a cohesive foreign policy agenda or plan. It's not clear what happens after an absence of American troops in Iraq is certain to dramatically alter U.S. policy in that region and worldwide."

Ron Walters, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, agreed.

"If the Democrats’ proposals don’t work, it becomes their war, and Democrats become a target," Walters told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

Rallying enough support for the bill, which allots $95.5 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been a challenge for Democratic leaders. Many party members support bringing troops home sooner than the 2008 deadline, while others have been reluctant to embrace a firm deadline to end the war.

Black Democrats are crafting their plan to exit Iraq as Bush on Monday issued a plea for more patience in the war, which has stretched longer with higher costs than the White House ever anticipated. Entering its fifth year, the war has claimed the lives of more than 3,200 members of the U.S. military.

Bush said his plan to send 21,500 additional U.S. troops to secure Baghdad and Iraq's troubled Anbar Province "will need more time to take effect."

"I want to stress that this operation is still in the early stages; it's still in the beginning stages," Bush said Monday. "Fewer than half of the troop reinforcements we are sending have arrived in Baghdad. The new strategy will need more time to take effect. And there will be good days, and there will be bad days ahead as the security plan unfolds."

"It can be tempting to look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude our best option is to pack up and go home," Bush said. "That may be satisfying in the short run, but I believe the consequences for American security would be devastating. ... Prevailing in Iraq is not going to be easy."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier Monday staunchly defended going to war, but acknowledged the administration likely erred by failing initially to send enough troops to quell the civil strife that followed the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

Rice said that patience still is required and asserted anew that the Iraqis are making headway in completing the transition toward democracy.

But Democrats say they have lost patience with the White House.

"The American people have lost confidence in President Bush's plan for a war without end in Iraq," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said in a statement. "That failed approach has been rejected by the voters in our nation, and it will be rejected by the Congress."

Conyers told BlackAmericaWeb.com that he will also push for legislation that would limit Bush’s attempt to engage in war with Iran, should Bush choose to invade another Middle East nation.

"The power to continue a war rests in the hands of Congress," Conyers said.

Last week, tempers flared on Iraq among Democrats as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fielded criticism from an anti-war congresswoman over liberals' concern that the party is not doing enough to end the war.

Pelosi's behind-closed-doors exchange with Rep. Maxine Waters of California -- described as heated by lawmakers and aides who asked not to be identified because of the session's private nature -- came as House leaders made progress in their quest for votes on a war spending bill that would require U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by 2008.

"I am philosophically opposed to the war," Waters told reporters after the private meeting. "We're voting to give the president of the United States almost $100 billion to continue the war. I can't support it."

"After ignoring the lessons of history, the American people, military leaders and bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate, they are now trying to ignore the question as to why thousands of additional troops are being sent to Iraq at the same time that our allies are planning to leave," Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Groff told BlackAmericaWeb.com an exit from Iraq could set off a troubling chain reaction.

"The question remains: If the United States leaves Iraq, then what happens to the region in the wake of our departure?" Groff asked.

"Complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq may quell turbulent American public opinion on the subject, but then we are, potentially, faced with a region embroiled in bloody religious factionalism while we still depend heavily on that same region's oil for our growing energy demands," he said.

"Consequently, destabilization in the Persian Gulf can spark a sort of neo-colonialist chain reaction, where the U.S. and other Western powers are forced to shift greater focus on the use of untapped resources throughout the African Diaspora, including Western Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America. Competition with China for those same resources will be fierce."

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Associated Press contributed to this story.