GOP senators push Bush for change of course in Iraq

[babylonsister]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/465286,CST-NWS-bush12.article

GOP senators push Bush for change of course in Iraq

July 12, 2007
BY DAVID ESPO

WASHINGTON -- Nervous Senate Republicans beseeched the White House without apparent success Wednesday for a quick change in course on Iraq as congressional Democrats insisted on high-profile votes calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops by spring.

Prospects for a less-sweeping, bipartisan challenge to President Bush suffered a setback when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the leading proposal has ''less teeth than a toothless tiger.''

Taken together, the events pointed toward a 10-day period of politically charged maneuvering in the Senate in which Democrats push for a withdrawal, the White House's allies resist and a small but growing collection of Republicans -- most of them facing re-election in 2008 -- is caught in the middle.

''I'm hopeful they {White House officials} change their minds,'' Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) said after a meeting that National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley held with several Republicans in the Capitol.

There was no evidence of that.

Bush, one day after ruling out talk of any shift in strategy before fall, met at the White House with GOP Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham. Both lawmakers emerged saying that the administration's troop buildup had produced progress and deserved a chance to work.

AP