Bush faces pressure on Iraq as Blair leaves

By Steve Holland and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush faced mounting pressure on Thursday from fellow Republicans as well as Democrats to show progress in Iraq within months or risk a collapse in support for the war.

On the day that Bush's closest international ally on the war, Prime Minister Tony Blair, announced he would step down next month, Democrats in the House of Representatives refused to back away from proposals to change course in Iraq.

Bush, who vetoed a $124 billion (63 billion pounds) war funding bill last week because it set a deadline for the withdrawal of combat troops, fired back by saying Congress should give military commanders more time and flexibility.

As for the House Democrats' bill providing some war funds now and possibly more later, Bush said, "I'll veto the bill if it's this haphazard, piecemeal funding."

After a meeting with U.S. commanders for an update on the war, Bush hailed Blair as a "political figure who is capable of thinking over the horizon," after the British leader made the expected announcement that he would step down in June.

Blair told Britons disillusioned by the war, which severely damaged both leaders' standing at home and abroad, that he had done what he believed was right.

Members of Bush's Republican Party also have begun to more publicly question the war, which has killed at least 3,377 U.S. soldiers and injured more than 24,000 since 2003.

"The American people are war-fatigued," Illinois Republican Representative Ray LaHood told CNN on Thursday. "The American people want to know that there's a way out. The American people want to know that we're having success."