Congress Split Deepens Over Exit Plan for Iraq Troops

The Bush administration yesterday slapped down a proposal, by two senators seen as the elder statesmen of the Republican party, which would have started the process of planning for an eventual exit from Iraq.

The flat refusal, delivered by the national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, deepens a gap between the White House and a Congress that is increasingly frustrated by George Bush's war strategy but is so far too divided to change it.

With just three weeks to go until the summer recess, the coming days are expected to intensify efforts in Congress to produce a clear alternative strategy for troops to leave Iraq.

However, in appearances on the Sunday morning talk shows in the media yesterday, Mr Hadley announced that the White House would not contemplate any shift in strategy until September, when General David Petraeus, the commander of troops in the region, delivered his progress report.

Mr Hadley said the government would make no allowances for the bill, introduced on Friday by the Republican senators John Warner and Richard Lugar, which calls for a withdrawal plan for US forces to be made ready by mid October.

"Hearing from the commanders on the ground in September is the right step," he told ABC television.

The ability of the White House to hold the line against any change in its war strategy has been eased by the failure of Congress to coalesce around a single plan that would begin the withdrawal of forces from Iraq.

The deadlock is focused on the narrowly balanced Senate, where Democrats would have to woo 18 Republicans to muster the 60 votes needed for a bill setting a firm date for an exit from Iraq.

So far, Congress remains split, with some people, mainly Democrats, supporting the imposition of a firm deadline for the withdrawal of US forces by April 2008, and others, mainly Republicans, who would like to adopt a new strategy along the lines of the recommendations which were issued last year by the Iraq Study Group.

The bill put forward by Mr Warner and Mr Lugar on Friday would reduce the role of American forces in Iraq, removing them from fighting the insurgency to switching to the protection of Iraq's borders and American bases.