Two top Republicans cast aside President Bush's pleas for patience on Iraq Friday and proposed legislation demanding a new strategy by mid-October to restrict the mission of U.S. troops.
In the clearest sign yet of Republican anxiety over Iraq, two party elder statesmen Friday urged President George W. Bush to begin pulling US troops out of the sectarian cross-fire by the end of the year.
An American who worked for a Halliburton subsidiary pleaded guilty to receiving kickbacks in exchange for awarding contracts in Iraq and Kuwait in 2003.
A soldier who recently returned from Iraq has admitted he paid someone $500 to shoot him in the leg so he could avoid returning for another tour.
Two of President George W. Bush's fellow Republicans in the Senate who seek a change of course in the war in Iraq urged him on Friday to draft plans to begin a possible troop withdrawal by the end of the year.
The Republican revolt against President Bush's war strategy accelerated yesterday as two of the party's most respected voices on national security proposed legislation envisioning a major realignment of U.S. troops in Iraq starting as early as Jan. 1.
While many in Congress are pushing President Bush to alter course in Iraq by September if not sooner, his new status report on the war strongly implies that the administration believes its military strategy will take many more months to meet its goals.
Pulling the U.S. military out of Iraq would be a massive undertaking and would have to be done slowly and deliberately, defense officials said Friday. One general said it would take up to 18 months to cut his troop levels in northern Iraq in half.
As of Friday, July 13, 2007, at least 3,610 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,967 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The Senate marked time in its Iraq debate on Friday, laying the rhetorical groundwork for a showdown next week over its latest effort to force President Bush to begin withdrawing U.S. troops.