Republicans Snub Bush on 9/11 Reforms

Conservative Republicans and Pentagon allies in Congress rebelled against President George Bush at the weekend by blocking legislation to reform US intelligence in the light of the September 11 attacks.

The rebellion in the House of Representatives served as a reminder to the Republican leadership, which secured the White House and Congress in this month's elections, that its main problem now is party unity.

The bill, already approved by the Senate, would have created a cabinet-level intelligence director to oversee the CIA and more than a dozen other espionage agencies. It was the central recommendation of the September 11 commission, which investigated the intelligence failures that allowed al-Qaida to mount its attack in 2001. As a consequence, the Pentagon, which commands 80% of the $40bn (£22bn) intelligence budget, would have had to surrender much of that control, and fought to prevent the bill being passed.

The defence department's principal ally on Capitol Hill, Duncan Hunter, the Republican chairman of the House armed services committee, objected to the bill on the grounds that it would interfere with the military chain of command. James Sensenbrenner, who chairs the judiciary committee, also led the resistance.

Mr Bush telephoned both men from Air Force One on Friday while flying to an economic summit in Chile, it was reported, but his appeals for party unity were turned down.

The house Speaker, Dennis Hastert, withdrew the bill rather than rely on Democratic votes and expose the rift in Republican ranks.

He said the bill could still be passed if the congressional session were extended. But other Republicans said the battle lines were too sharply drawn to make any resolution possible.

"What you are seeing is the forces in favour of the status quo protecting their turf," Susan Collins, a moderate Republican senator, told the New York Times.