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Bush battles to shore up support

Ewen MacAskill

Constitutional clash over his plan to increase troops for Iraq

Washington: President George Bush has invited the Republican congressional leadership to his Camp David retreat this weekend to shore up political support ahead of a potentially epic constitutional clash over his Iraq troop increase.

With the clamour of protest showing no sign dying down and senior members of the Bush administration grilled for a second day in the Senate, the White House embarked on a major effort to try to swing back support. Mr. Bush left the White House for the Maryland retreat on Friday. Several senior Republicans, along with their spouses, joined him on Friday night.

Ten Republican defectors, unhappy with the troop increase announced this week, are threatening to join the Democrats next week in a symbolic vote against the policy in what is likely to be the first of a series of collisions between the White House and Congress. Mr. Bush will explore with his Republican colleagues ways of how to stop the revolt.

Interview

Before leaving the White House, he taped an interview for broadcast on Saturday night defending his Iraq strategy. As part of the White House push to sell the plan, Vice-President Dick Cheney, leading hawk on Iraq, is to be interviewed on television.

Mr. Bush also spent part of the morning phoning Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah to secure their support.

Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, flew to West Asia but not before a senior Democrat accused her of not understanding the sacrifices of war because she has no children. Barbara Boxer repeatedly asked her: ``Who pays the price?'' Ms. Rice would not, she went on, because she didn't have ``an immediate family''. Ms. Rice defended herself saying she visited families and talked to relatives of victims.

On Capitol Hill, Robert Gates, who replaced Donald Rumsfeld as Defence Secretary, and General Peter Pace, head of the joint chiefs of staff, faced sceptical questions from the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Mr. Gates said the new operation to try to pacify Baghdad would begin in February and that, at first, joint U.S.-Iraq army forces would go into mixed Sunni-Shia Muslim areas rather than into the tougher, purely Shia areas, which have been no-go areas for U.S. troops since 2003 and are home to sectarian death squads. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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