U.S. lawmakers have introduced legislation to increase the number of Iraqis fleeing conflict in Iraq who can be admitted to the United States. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill, the focus is on people whose lives are threatened for assisting U.S. and coalition forces, and international organizations in Iraq.

The Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives has voted to fund the Iraq war on an instalment plan, a move quickly rejected by President George W Bush as "haphazard".

The White House is threatening to veto a bill proposed in the House of Representatives that would pay for the Iraq war only through July since the Defence Secretary Robert Gates said such a limit would be disastrous.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has met Iraqi leaders during an unannounced visit to Baghdad, as violence continued to claim more victims in Iraq. Cheney held talks with General David Petraeus, commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, before meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, top government ministers, and President Jalal Talabani.

President Bush and congressional Democrats are negotiating new funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq after the president vetoed a measure earlier this week because it included a timetable for a troop withdrawal from Iraq. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns has the story.

In a speech before the Dallas Chamber of Commerce Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates cautioned against allowing weariness with the war in Iraq to provoke a withdrawal that he said would bring chaos to the Middle East. VOA's Greg Flakus has more from our Houston bureau.

President Bush says he is looking forward to meeting with Congressional leaders to discuss funding for the Iraq war. Tuesday, Mr. Bush vetoed funding legislation that would have provided money for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq because the measure included a timetable for a troop withdrawal from Iraq, something Democrats have been insisting on. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns has the story.

President George W. Bush's veto of an Iraq war spending bill that set timelines for U.S. troop withdrawals puts new pressure on Democrats in Congress to craft a compromise even as their caucus grows more fractious on the topic.

US leader George W Bush is preparing to exercise his presidential veto for only the second time since the move has been prompted by the approval by Congress of a bill linking war funding to a timetable for withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

The former director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) says Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration officials pushed the country to invade Iraq without "serious debate" about whether Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat.

All eight Democratic Party candidates to be U.S. president have called on President George W. Bush to end the United States' involvement in the Iraq war. The calls were made on April 26 during the candidates' first live television debate ahead of the November 2008 election.

The U.S. Senate has been debating a military funding bill that would require President Bush to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq in October. The measure is expected to pass Thursday in the Democratic-controlled Senate.