July 11, 2007	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 25, 1428

WASHINGTON, July 10: US President George W. Bush faces mounting pressure from lawmakers to shift course on the Iraq war, but the White House insists the rising political heat will not force a quick about-face on troop withdrawals.

Increasing Republican anxiety over Bush's strategy and a new Democratic assault has set the stage for the next two weeks in Congress in what could prove the most crucial showdown yet on ending the war.

Republicans have so far fended off attempts to handcuff Bush's war powers by Democratic leaders, who have demanded most combat troops be withdrawn from Iraq by April 1, 2008.

The new intensity to the Iraq debate came as the administration prepared to unveil an interim report on the progress of Bush's strategy to deploy nearly 30,000 extra soldiers into the war-torn nation.

US officials said the progress report to Congress, due out later this week, would give mixed reviews to the strategy and to efforts by leaders in Baghdad to take steps to quell violence.

“I’m not sure everybody is going to get an ‘A’ on the first report,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said wryly to reporters when asked about Iraq’s government and its failures thus far to meet US goals for reconciliation.

“The report to be issued by Sunday will present a picture of satisfactory progress on some benchmarks and not on others,” a senior US official said hours after the briefing.

“This is to be expected given the report is a preliminary snapshot of what are the early stages of the full surge,” the official said.

The Senate and House of Representatives are meanwhile taking a new look at Iraq policy, hoping to squeeze Republicans between their support for the war and public opinion, which has turned against it.

A poll released Tuesday showed opposition to the war mounting while Bush's approval rating fell to a new low.

Seven in 10 Americans favour removing nearly all US troops from Iraq by April, said the USA Today/Gallup poll. And 62 per cent of those surveyed over the weekend said the United States had made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq — the first time that figure exceeded 60 per cent, the USA Today newspaper said.

Only one in five said an increase in US forces in Iraq starting in January had improved the situation while half said Bush's “surge” strategy had made no difference. As for the US president, his approval rating dropped to 29 percent, down from 33 percent in June.

After a handful of veteran Republicans recently broke with Bush over the war, Senator John Warner, a closely-watched party elder statesmen, kept his cards close to his chest.

He said he would not announce his position on various Senate measures aimed at changing Iraq strategy until he had heard from Bush, but hoped the president would address the American people directly.

After another bloody weekend, with the loss of another 10 US troops in Iraq, several other Republicans said they now believed it was time to change course.

“We have to move from non-binding (action) to a binding approach in changing our strategy in Iraq,” Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine told reporters.

Another Republican, Senator Susan Collins, earlier told CNN that Republicans had little option but to break with Bush.

Democratic Senator Jack Reed said after returning from Iraq, and a meeting with General David Petraeus, that the US commander could make a definitive assessment of Iraq strategy before an already set date of September.

The White House refused to bend to calls for troop withdrawals but was moving to try to allay public anxiety over the war.

The Washington Post reported Bush would emphasize in a speech Tuesday his intent to reduce the level of US forces next year if security conditions improve.

“Look, the president understands the American people are frustrated,” a senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Post.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said a New York Times report that the administration was engaged in an intense internal debate over a gradual withdrawal from Iraqi cities was “way ahead of the facts.” He did however acknowledge Iraq's often-criticised security forces may be unable to assume control of their war-torn country's security by November as planned.

Bush had set the timetable in a January 10, 2007 speech unveiling his plans to send the extra troops to Iraq in a bid to quell violence and improve chances for reconciliation.—AFP