US:A Democratic senator has proposed a resolution to cut off funding for the Iraq war within six months, telling Congress it has a duty to use its power to end the war. Wisconsin's Russell Feingold said that President George Bush was ignoring the will of the American people as expressed in last November's elections.
"Since the president is adamant about pursuing his failed policies in Iraq, Congress has the duty to stand up and use its power to stop him," Mr Feingold said. "If Congress doesn't stop this war, it's not because it doesn't have the power. It's because it doesn't have the will."
His resolution is one of a number on the war that the Senate will consider next week, but there is little appetite as yet among Democrats for cutting funding. Most are backing a resolution sponsored by Senate foreign relations chairman Joe Biden that condemns Mr Bush's decision to send more troops to Iraq as contrary to the US national interest. Another resolution, sponsored by senior Republican senator John Warner, "disagrees" with the decision to deploy additional troops to Baghdad and calls for greater emphasis on fighting terrorists in Anbar province, a Sunni insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad.
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has proposed a resolution calling for the withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq by March 31st, 2008.
"The days of our open-ended commitment must come to a close," he said. "It is time for us to fundamentally change our policy. It is time to give Iraqis their country back."
Some of Mr Bush's supporters, including Arizona's John McCain, are working on a resolution that sets out benchmarks for success in Iraq but proposes no sanctions if they are not met.
Senate majority leader Harry Reid stressed that passing a non-binding resolution now did not preclude taking more decisive action to end the war later.
"The funding measures will come at a later time, if, in fact, they're necessary," he said.
An inspector-general's report has found that the US government wasted tens of millions of dollars in the reconstruction effort in Iraq, building a never used camp for police trainers with an Olympic-sized swimming pool and buying weapons that have not been accounted for.
Special inspector general Stuart Bowen said extensive waste and fraud and a deteriorating security situation in Iraq were hampering the reconstruction effort.
"The security situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, hindering progress in all reconstruction sectors and threatening the overall reconstruction effort," the report said.
Mr Bush has suggested that he might have been misunderstood when he started speaking about the need to pursue Iran for its alleged involvement in helping insurgents in Iraq.
The president said that contrary to speculation by some congressmen and the media, he had no plans to attack Iran or invade its territory.
"We'll deal with it by finding their supply chains and their agents and . . . arresting them, getting them out of harm's way. In other words, we're going to protect our troops. "It's not tough talk to say that the commander in chief expects our troops to be protected," he said.