WASHINGTON — President Bush asked Congress for $46 billion more to bankroll wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and said he wants the money approved by Christmas.
Democrats responded that Bush should not expect lawmakers to rubber-stamp the request. The fighting in Iraq, in its fifth year, has cost more than $455 billion.
"The colossal cost of this war grows every day - in lives lost, dollars spent, and to our reputation around the world," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
"The American people long ago rejected the president's planned 10-year occupation of Iraq and want the administration to provide a concrete plan to bring our troops home.
"The choice is between a Democratic plan for responsible redeployment ofour troops and the president's plan to spend another trillion dollars for a 10-year war in Iraq. We must end this war."
Announcing his latest request, Bush alluded to disenchantment with the war, which has claimed the lives of more than 3,830 members of the U.S. military and more than 73,000 Iraqi civilians.
"Our men and women on the front lines should not be caught in the middle of partisan disagreements in Washington," the president said.
Monday's proposal takes to $196.4 billion the total requested for operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere for the budget year that started Oct. 1. It includes $189.3 billion for the Defense Department, $6.9 billion for the State Department and $200 million for other agencies.
The White House originally sought $141.7 billion for the Pentagon to conduct the Iraq and Afghanistan missions, then asked for $5.3 billion more in July. Bush's latest request includes $42.3 billion more for the Pentagon.
For the State Department, Bush more than doubled his initial $3.3 billion request, adding $3.6 billion for a total of $6.9 billion. The updated request includes money for peacekeeping efforts in Darfur, battling drug trafficking in Latin America, fighting famine in Africa, assisting Iraqi refugees and the Palestinians.
Top House lawmakers have said they do not plan to act on Bush's request until next year, but they anticipate providing interim funds when completing a separate defense funding bill this fall. Bush said failing to approve the money would directly affect the effectiveness of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"I know some in Congress are against the war and are seeking ways to demonstrate that opposition," Bush said. "I recognize their position and they should make their views heard. But they ought to make sure our troops have what it takes to succeed."
Bush said most of the funding request, crafted in consultation with Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, is for day-to-day military operations.
Bush is expected to deliver a speech today on missile defense and other components of his defense strategy. His remarks at the National Defense University in Washington are to cover the wars, the USAPATRIOT Act, terrorist surveillance and nuclear proliferation.
BIN LADEN MESSAGE
In an audiotape aired Monday and apparently intended to win over Sunnis opposed to al-Qaida's branch in Iraq, Osama bin Laden called for Iraqi insurgents to unite and avoid divisive extremism.
In the broadcast on Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden said insurgents should admit mistakes and he even advises himself not to be extreme.
The tape appeared to be in response to moves by some Sunni Arab tribes in Iraq that have joined U.S. troops in fighting al-Qaida members, as well as other Sunni insurgent groups that - while still attacking Americans - have formed coalitions opposed to al-Qaida. Al-Jazeera did not say how it obtained the tape.
IntelCenter, a U.S. group that monitors militant messages, said it was bin Laden's third public statement this year, with the previous two on Sept. 8 and Sept. 20.
Anthony Cordesman, a terror analyst for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said bin Laden's underlying message appeared to be aimed at al-Qaida in Iraq - "that al-Qaida needs to be less arrogant and moderate its conduct."
Cordesman pointed to al-Qaida in Iraq's attempts to impose Taliban-like Islamic laws in some areas it controlled as well as its killings of rival tribal figures, actions that alienated some Sunni Arabs and led them to join a movement opposing al-Qaida.
ANTI-AL-QAIDA PARADE
To showcase the success of that tribal alliance, the U.S. military planned what it called a "unification parade" in Ramadi, the Anbar provincial capital, today.
Maj. Lee Peters, a military spokesman for the area, said security would be increased to protect the celebration. It was to include at least 200 Sunni sheiks and hundreds of other dignitaries to commemorate Sheik Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, the founder of the anti-al-Qaida group who was assassinated by a bomb Sept. 13.
Abdul-Sattar's brother, who has taken over the movement, said it was important to maintain pressure on insurgents, recalling that about 50 al-Qaida militants marched through downtown Ramadi a year ago in a show of force.
"The people felt weak and afraid because of al-Qaida. Now there is a feeling of strength,"Sheik Ahmed Abu Risha told The Associated Press at his heavily guarded compound as a band practiced for the parade in the backyard.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, kept up pressure on Shiite Muslim militants as well.
Baghdad police said American helicopters strafed a building in the capital's Sadr City district, wounding a woman and her daughter, the second claim in as many days of civilian casualties from U.S. attacks in the Shiite enclave.
Iraqi officials disputed an American military claim that 49 militants were killed Sunday in a ground and air assault that targeted an Iranian-linked militia chief, insisting the number of casualties was 15 - all civilians.
Aides to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr condemned the raid but urged followers to abide by his orders to refrain from violence despite what it called "the crimes of the Americans."
Other Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad were rattled by bombs Monday as at least 50 people were killed or found dead nationwide, according to police, hospital and morgue officials.
In the latest reported U.S. strike, witnesses and police said attack helicopters opened fire before dawn Monday on a duplex in Sadr City that housed a family in one half and a store selling motor oil in the other. The U.S. military said it was looking into the report.
The military said the U.S. ground and air assault in Sadr City on Sunday left "an estimated 49 criminals" dead, which would be one of the highest tolls for a single operation since Bush declared an end to active combat in 2003.
Iraqi officials maintained 15 civilians were killed, including a woman, a 14-year-old boy and two toddlers.
Leaders in the Iraqi parliament said Monday that they were taking steps to examine the U.S. military presence in Iraq with an eye toward possibly restricting the force's activities, in a continuing backlash over the raid.
Before the end of the year, the United Nations is expected to take up its annual reauthorization of a Security Council resolution that allows the presence of U.S. troops here. Iraqi leaders have charged that the U.S. military used too much force in responding to attacks, leading to the deaths of civilians, and that the Americans have not coordinated enough with Iraqi forces.
CHANGING U.S. STRATEGY
Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker have concluded that Shiite extremists pose a rising threat to the U.S. effort in Iraq, as the relative influence of Sunni insurgent groups such as al-Qaidain-Iraq has diminished drastically because of U.S. operations.
This judgment forms part of the changes that Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, approved last week to their classified campaign strategy for the country, which covers the period through summer 2009.
The updated plan anticipates shifting the U.S. military effort to focus more on countering Shiite militias - some backed by Iran - that have generated new violence as they battle for power in the south and elsewhere in Iraq, said senior military and diplomatic officials familiar with the plan.
"As the Sunni insurgents quit fighting us, the problems we have with criminality and other militia, many of them Shia, become relatively more important," a U.S. Embassy official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan is not finalized, told The Washington Post for Monday's editions.
The plan also acknowledges that the U.S. military - with limited time and troops - cannot guarantee a wholesale defeat of its enemies in Iraq, and instead is seeking "political accommodation" to persuade them to end the use of violence, the officials said.
Information for this article was contributed from Washington by Deb Riechmann, from Baghdad by Kim Gamel and from Cairo by Lee Keath of The Associated Press; from Washington by Ann Scott Tyson of The Washington Post; and from Baghdad by Christian Berthelsen of the Los Angeles Times.
Front Section, Pages 1, 5 on 10/23/2007