AP - House Democratic leaders are intent on sidetracking bipartisan attempts to change course in Iraq at least until fall, officials said Tuesday, rather than allow nervous Republicans to vote for legislation that lacks a troop withdrawal deadline.
Reuters - President George W. Bush's nominee
to be top military adviser said on Tuesday the United States
would be in Iraq for "years not months" and a Pentagon official
said the war was costing even more than expected.
AP - A Marine accused of masterminding a plot to kidnap and kill an Iraqi man fired three rounds into the victim’s head, then told his squad, “Gents, we just got away with murder,” a prosecutor said Tuesday in closing arguments of a court-martial.
AP - The White House asked Congress Tuesday for $5.3 billion for new vehicles that are better able to withstand roadside bombs in Iraq.
Reuters - Refugee workers call it the
"pull factor" — camps with conditions comfortable enough to
attract people in a country where an average of 60,000 Iraqis a
month are driven from their homes by sectarian violence.
AP - As of Tuesday, July 31, 2007, at least 3,652 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,998 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.
AFP - Six months after a "surge" of 30,000 US reinforcements to Iraq, experts and White House advisors said Tuesday security is better, but offered little hope for the crucial political resolution to the conflict.
AP - The leader of Iraq’s Kurdish region warned Tuesday of a “real civil war” if the central government does not implement a constitutional clause on the future of Kirkuk, the oil-rich city claimed by the Kurds.
AP - Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday a pivotal September report on the war in Iraq is likely to show “significant progress” — putting himself ahead of President Bush, who has refused to speculate on what the report will say.
Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates will ask
Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to help more with U.S. efforts in
Iraq and discuss a big arms deal for Washington's Gulf ally.