WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush and Democrats looking to set an Iraq withdrawal timetable held talks Wednesday at the White House but reported no breakthrough in their differences over the unpopular war.
Bush met with top Republican and Democratic leaders from the Senate and House of Representatives to discuss emergency war funding legislation that he has vowed to veto if it contains the Democrats' 2008 pull-out plan.
"People have strong opinions around the table, and I'm looking forward to listening to them. I've got my own opinion, which I'm more than willing to share," the president said as the meeting began.
But asked whether the hour-long discussion had changed anything in the bitter debate over a 100-billion-dollar emergency war-funding bill, Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner told reporters: "No."
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted that the US Congress would reconcile rival Senate and House of Representatives versions of the bill and send the legislation to Bush next week.
"We believe he must search his soul, his conscience, and find out what is the right thing for the American people," said Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "I believe signing this bill will do that."
The House version would pull US combat troops out by September 2008. The Senate version would begin getting US forces out in mid-2007 with the goal of having most of them withdrawn by March 31, 2008.
But there were signs that the Democrats might be softening in the face of Bush's repeated threats to veto the legislation, as they declined to state categorically that the final version would include a timetable.
While the Democrats control the US Congress, they lack the votes needed to override Bush's veto. That, they said, means that lawmakers and the White House will have to continue working towards a compromise.
"Each side was very clear with its position. But that doesn't mean that that's the end of the conversation," said Pelosi. "And that is what is known as negotiation and government. It's not just one meeting."
Polls show the US public opposes the war and largely backs the Democrats in the funding feud, but Bush has flatly rejected what he called this week his foes' "unreasonable demands for a precipitous withdrawal."
The president has also accused the Democrats of endangering the troops by delaying the monies -- a politically potent charge even though the Congress took more time in previous years when it was in Republican hands.
The stalemate came as an avalanche of car bomb attacks on Shiite districts of Baghdad slaughtered 172 people on Wednesday and delivered a savage blow to the credibility of a two-month-old US security plan.
The series of blasts was the deadliest in the Iraqi capital since the launch of the massive crackdown; the single most devastating blast alone killed 122 people, mainly commuters and shoppers.
The bombings ripped through five districts of the sprawling capital, where 80,000 Iraqi and US troops are straining to enforce order and contain the daily violence terrorizing Baghdad's five million residents.
There are currently 145,000 US troops in Iraq, and the number should rise to 160,000 by June under a "surge" ordered by Bush to try to restore order in Baghdad.
"This is really the Iraqi leadership's major and potential last opportunity to really take this ball forward," said Admiral William Fallon, the commander of US forces in the Middle East.
At the same time, US Defense Secretary Bob Gates sharply undercut months of White House charges that even debating Bush's Iraq policy and discussing a withdrawal timetable was undermining US forces there.
"The debate in Congress ... has been helpful in demonstrating to the Iraqis that American patience is limited," Gates told reporters traveling with him in Jordan.
"The strong feelings expressed in the Congress about the timetable probably has had a positive impact ... in terms of communicating to the Iraqis that this is not an open-ended commitment."

04/18/2007 21:22 GMT