Defying a White House veto threat, the US House of Representatives on Thursday approved legislation to pull troops out of Iraq by April 1, 2008. By a vote of 223-201, the Democratic-controlled House approved the legislation in the hopes that it would pressure the Senate to attach a similar mandatory troop withdrawal timetable to a military policy bill it is debating. The bill would tell the Pentagon to begin withdrawing combat troops within four months and complete the redeployment by April 1. Under the bill, an unspecified number of US soldiers would stay in Iraq to train Iraqi soldiers, conduct counter-terrorism operations and protect US diplomats. The Pentagon will also reduce its naval presence in the Gulf to one aircraft carrier group by August, defense officials said on Thursday. “This change in carrier presence does not reflect a change in commitment or concern for the region,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. Defence officials said there could be a five-day window before the year’s end when no US carriers would be in the Gulf. Whitman however did not comment on specific deployment timetables.