April Toll Is Highest Of ’07 for U.S. Troops
Over 100 Killed in Month; Iraqi Deaths Far Higher
By Sudarsan Raghavan and Karin Brulliard
Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, April 30 — The deaths of more than 100 American troops in April made it the deadliest month so far this year for U.S. forces in Iraq, underscoring the growing exposure of Americans as thousands of reinforcements arrive for an 11-week-old offensive to tame sectarian violence.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/30/AR2007043001929_pf.html
Republicans Buck Bush On Iraq Benchmarks – washingtonpost.com, By Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post Staff Writer
Brushing aside White House opposition, Republican leaders in Congress said yesterday that negotiations on a second war spending bill should begin with benchmarks of success for the Iraqi government, and possible consequences if those benchmarks are not met.
Democratic leaders will send a $124 billion war funding bill to President Bush today that would establish such benchmarks and tie them to troop withdrawals, which would begin as early as July 1 if they are not met. The bill will arrive at the White House on the fourth anniversary of Bush’s speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, when he declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq before a banner that proclaimed “Mission Accomplished.”
The administration dispatched Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday to try to slam shut bipartisan talk of punishing the Iraqi government for not meeting benchmarks. Bush took the same uncompromising tone yesterday when he reiterated his veto promise.
“That’s not to say I’m not interested in their opinions. I am,” he said of congressional leaders. “I look forward to working with members of both parties to get a bill that doesn’t set artificial timetables and doesn’t micromanage and gets the money to our troops.”
But GOP leaders did not take the benchmark issue off the table. House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) suggested last week that although Republicans could not accept linking benchmarks to troop withdrawals, they could tie them to $5.7 billion in nonmilitary assistance for the Iraqi government.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/30/AR2007043001527_pf.html