A fierce political battle over a Democratic plan to pull US troops from Iraq is moving toward a critical stage as President George W. Bush prepares to veto it, but talks on a new bill have quietly begun.
The Democratic-led Congress plans to send Mr Bush a bill on Tuesday that gives $124 billion for the Iraq war but requires a pullout to begin by October 1st. The White House has said Mr Bush will waste no time in vetoing it.
Harsh rhetoric has marked the debate, with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada saying Bush has already lost the war and Republicans calling Reid a defeatist.
Two front-runners in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, spoke strongly against the war in speeches yesterday to party activists in California.
"The first thing I will do upon taking office is to end the war in Iraq," Mrs Clinton said.
But behind the scenes, many from both sides expect an eventual compromise.
One compromise effort will focus on so-called benchmarks - goals for measuring Iraqi progress.
On Friday, Mr Bush said again he "won't accept" any bill with pullout dates. But he invited Democratic and Republican leaders to a White House meeting on Wednesday to discuss a second attempt at writing a war-funding bill. "I believe we can work a way forward," he said
Democrats will highlight the unprecedented rebuke they are delivering to Bush when they send him their bill on Tuesday, the fourth anniversary of Mr Bush's speech aboard an aircraft carrier declaring the end to major combat operations in Iraq.
As a reminder of the anniversary, antiwar groups are running television advertisements showing footage of Mr Bush on the carrier, decorated with a "Mission Accomplished" banner.
If the past is any guide, Mr Bush will not pass up the occasion of his veto to repeat his criticism that timetables would handcuff military leaders and undermine the troops.
The US military said yesterday nine soldiers had been killed in Iraq in the past two days, raising to nearly 100 the number of troops killed in April, one of the deadliest months for US forces since the 2003 invasion.