After months of stubbornly refusing even to consider cutting U.S. troop levels in Iraq, President George W. Bush has suddenly decided the idea is no longer taboo.
As Congress returns to the Capitol today, opinions on the Iraq war remain polarized. Thirty-eight members of Congress visited Iraq in August, and interviews reveal the trips tended to reinforce previously held opinions.
President Bush, in Iraq on Monday, emphasized security gains, sectarian reconciliation and the possibility of a troop withdrawal.
While the recent Government Accountability Office report on the 18 benchmarks for Iraq set out by Congress gave a very pessimistic view, our data support a more mixed picture.
The number of times that private security contractors working for the U.S. military fired warning or deadly shots at Iraqis nearly doubled during the past year, according to the U.S. military command in Iraq.
A Sunni insurgent coalition in Iraq announced Monday the appointment of an education minister to the group's so-called 10-member "Islamic Cabinet," set up in April to challenge the Iraqi government.
President George W. Bush, on a surprise visit to Iraq Monday, said a reduction in combat troops was possible but sniped at "nervous" US politicians ahead of a showdown with Congress.
As of Monday, Sept. 3, 2007, at least 3,740 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 3,061 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
President Bush raised the possibility Monday of U.S. troop cuts in Iraq if security continues to improve, traveling here secretly to assess the war before a showdown with Congress.
US President George W. Bush expressed frustration Monday with the slow pace of political change in Iraq but said he still backed the "evolving" leadership of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.