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US top-level Iraq policy negotiations end in acrimony

A long-awaited negotiating session between congressional leaders and the White House over Iraq policy broke up in acrimony on Friday, with Democrats accusing President George W. Bush of refusing to be held accountable for the war.

After more than an hour of talks with top White House aides, Democrats told reporters they nonetheless would try passing a bill next week to fund the US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"To say I was disappointed in the meeting is an understatement," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said: "Nothing is off the table. The one thing that has to be on the table is accountability and this administration has never been willing to be accountable for this war in Iraq."

Congress is trying to approve by next week about US$100 billion in new funds for the US troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan because existing funds are running out.

But lawmakers and Bush are embroiled in a fight over whether any conditions should be attached to that money, such as Democrats' desire to impose timetables for ending the 4-year-old war.

"Democrats seem to be dug in on precisely the same approach that resulted in the president's veto before, that was sustained in the House," said White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten.

Pelosi and Reid said they offered to send Bush a bill with October and March timelines for withdrawing US combat troops -- an idea the president vetoed on May 1 -- but to give Bush the power to waive those dates.

The Democratic leaders also said they offered to drop all of the approximately US$24 billion in domestic funds added to the war-funding bill.

"Everything was no," Reid said of the White House response.

But Bolten said there was an idea circulating on Capitol Hill that could gain the administration's favor.

Meanwhile, in Baghdad three mortar rounds or rockets exploded yesterday in the Green Zone, wounding one person, a US official said. The blasts occurred after British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived there for talks with Iraqi leaders.

Blair's official spokesman downplayed the incident, saying there was "nothing to suggest anything other than business as usual."

A fourth projectile exploded just outside the Green Zone, US embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said. Fintor did not say where the blasts occurred and made no mention of Blair's presence.

The blasts occurred about 11:30am, soon after Blair arrived for meetings with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani.
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