No sign of compromise on Iraq by Bush, Democrats

By Steve Holland

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President George W. Bush and Democrats who control the U.S. Congress are on a collision course over Iraq war funding with neither side yet showing a willingness to back down.

The festering feud is the most dramatic example of political brinkmanship since a 1995 budget dispute between then-Democratic President Bill Clinton and congressional Republicans led to a government shutdown.

Back then, Americans perceived Clinton as the voice of reason and saw Republicans as over-reaching in their drive to cut the federal budget.

But in this case, the outcome is not so clear. Democrats were elected to control of Congress last November on a platform to scale back U.S. involvement in Iraq, and are trying to do that by attaching a withdrawal timetable to Bush's request for $100 billion (51 billion pounds) to pay for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Although polls shows strong support for the Democrats' position, White House officials believe Americans will ultimately agree with Bush that even though the Iraq war is unpopular and people are weary of it, in the end the troops must be funded.

For all the talk last January of bipartisan cooperation between the Bush White House and the new Democratic majority in Congress, partisan battles are again the norm in Washington.

The White House is singling out Democrats every day for criticism on the Iraq funding bill, warning troop tours of duty in Iraq will be extended if the money is not there to rotate them out. On Thursday, it was Vice President Dick Cheney's turn to lead the attack.

"I do believe that a significant portion of the Democrats, including, I think, (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi, are adamantly opposed to the war and prepared to pack it in and come home in defeat, rather than put in place or support a policy that will lead to victory," Cheney told conservative talk show radio host Rush Limbaugh.