by Olivier Knox

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WASHINGTON, May 1, 2007 (AFP) - President George W. Bush on Tuesday vetoed a bill setting an Iraq withdrawal timeline, setting the stage for a new battle with anti-war forces over ending US involvement in the four-year-old conflict.

While both sides pledged to work together on new legislation that would ensure US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan get needed funding, there was no evident compromise in the works between the White House and Congressional Democrats who have sought to tie funding to a pullout schedule.

"Members of the House and Senate passed a bill that substitutes the opinions of politicians for the judgment of our military commanders, so a few minutes ago, I vetoed the bill," Bush said.

"Setting a deadline for withdrawal is setting a date for failure, and that would be irresponsible," he said as protesters outside the White House chanted "Stop the war now!" and "How many more will die?"

Bush had long pledged to defy the Democrat-controlled Congress with a veto of the bill, which was to allocate 124 billion dollars in emergency funding for US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The measure linked the funds to a call for US combat troops to start coming home by October 1, and for most of them to be withdrawn by March 2008.

The veto came exactly four years after Bush declared major combat over in Iraq in a "Mission Accomplished" speech, and top Democrats quickly accused the Republican leader of trapping US soldiers "in the middle of an open-ended civil war."

"The president wants a blank check. The Congress is not going to give it to him," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned at a joint public appearance with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

"If the president thinks that by vetoing this bill, he will stop us from working to change the direction of this war, he is mistaken," said Reid. "Now he has an obligation to explain his plan to responsibly end this war."

The House and Senate had approved the legislation by mostly party-line votes, with Democrats urging Bush to "listen to the American people" as polls showed a majority want the war to end.

The veto came exactly four years after Bush, speaking aboard a US aircraft carrier under a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner, declared that "major combat" was over in Iraq following the US-led invasion launched in March 2003.

When he spoke, just 139 US soldiers had been killed in the war. Now more than 3,350 have died in Iraq, with April proving the bloodiest month of 2007 with 104 killed.

Bush pleaded Tuesday for patience with his unpopular decision in January to send more US troops to Iraq under the lead of General David Petraeus.

"As General Petraeus has said, it will be at least the end of summer before we can assess the impact of this operation. Congress ought to give General Petraeus' plan a chance to work. In the months since our military has been implementing this plan, we've begun to see some important results," Bush said.

He added that he had a "desire to work with Congress to resolve this matter as quickly as possible."

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested that setting less strict "benchmarks" could be a point of compromise.

"There are a number of Republicans who do think that some kind of benchmarks, properly crafted, would actually be helpful. So I think that is an area that we can talk about, beginning tomorrow (Wednesday)," he said.

In an interview with CNN, White House spokesman Tony Snow said the government had already begun using "benchmarks" to gauge progress in Iraq.

"You ought to have benchmarks, in the sense of saying, 'These are the things that you want to achieve,'" Snow said, according to a CNN transcript.

However, Snow backed away from using benchmarks as a threat.

"You've got to ask yourself, if you start making threats and say, 'We're going to walk out," who do you make stronger? Do you make stronger government, or do you make stronger the enemies of that government?"

For her part, Pelosi warned that compromise would be difficult to reach.

"If the president thinks that what is happening on the ground in Iraq now is progress, as he said in his comments tonight, then it's clear to see why we have a disagreement on policy with him," she said after the veto.

"We look forward to working with the president, to find common ground, but there is great distance between us right now."

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