Rice: Next Iraq war spending bill could be derailed

WASHINGTON – President Bush will not support a war spending bill that punishes the Iraqi government for failing to meet benchmarks for progress, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday.\nRice’s comments cast fresh doubt on a potential compromise between the Democratic-led Congress and the White House in getting money to U.S. troops.\nAlso, with a regional conference on Iraq set to begin Thursday in Egypt, Rice raised the possibility of a rare direct encounter between high-level U.S. and Iranian officials. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is expected to lead his country’s delegation.\n“I will not rule out that we may encounter one another,” Rice said. “But what do we need to do? It’s quite obvious. Stop the flow of arms to foreign fighters. Stop the flow of foreign fighters across the borders.”\nIran agreed Sunday to join the U.S. and other countries at the conference on Iraq this week, raising hopes the government in Tehran would help stabilize its violent neighbor and stem the flow of guns and bombs over the border.\nIn an apparent effort to drive home that point, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told an Iranian envoy that the persistent violence in Iraq – some of it carried out by the Shiite militias Iran is accused of arming – could spill over into neighboring countries, including those that are “supposed to support the Iraqi government.”\nIraq’s other neighbors as well as Egypt, Bahrain and representatives of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members have agreed to attend the meeting Thursday and Friday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheik.\nIn Washington this week, Bush plans to veto a $124.2 billion war spending bill that includes a timeline for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq. In a second version, Democratic leaders may scrap the timetable but work with Republican lawmakers on benchmarks: ordering the Iraqi government to fulfill promises on allocating oil resources, amending its constitution and expanding democratic participation.\nRice said the president would not agree to a plan that penalizes Baghdad if the Iraqi government fall shorts. To do so, she said, would restrain the abilities of Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq.\n“That’s the problem with having so-called consequences,” Rice said.\n“To begin now to tie our own hands – and to say ‘We must do this if they don’t do that’ – doesn’t allow us the flexibility and creativity that we need to move this forward,” she said.\nBenchmarks have emerged as a possible rallying point as U.S. leaders seek to show they are holding the Iraq government accountable. But establishing goals without consequences may seem pointless to many Democratic lawmakers, who want an aggressive change in policy.\n“The benchmarks – the Iraqis agreed to it, the president agreed it,” said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who heads a House subcommittee that controls defense spending. “We’re saying to them, well, let’s put some teeth into the benchmarks.”\nIn their push to link U.S. money or troop support to Iraqi performance, however, Democrats must negotiate with Republicans. On their own, Democratic lawmakers do not have the votes to override Bush’s veto.\nRice said it makes sense to give Iraq’s leaders time to meet the goals they have set. She said Bush has made clear to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that people in the United States have limited patience.\nBush is expected the veto the existing war bill by Tuesday, then meet Wednesday with congressional leaders on the next steps.\nMeanwhile, Rice said will not appear in person before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to answer questions about the Bush administration’s prewar intelligence. Rice said she already has addressed claims that Iraq had sought uranium from the African nation of Niger.\nThe committee voted 21-10 last week to issue a subpoena to compel her testimony.\nAsked about the possibility of being held in contempt by the committee chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., Rice said, “That’s the chairman’s prerogative. I respect the oversight – the oversight responsibilities of Congress _ but I frankly think this one has been looked at and looked at and looked at.”\nRice and Murtha appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Rice was also on “This Week” on ABC.