Talk continues about Iraqi troop withdrawal

Both sides came armed with ideas and notebooks and talked for some 45 minutes. They agreed to meet again early next week and not to divulge details to outsiders in the spirit of cooperation.

Ultimately, however, no deal was struck.

?There is nothing off the table ? including timetables? to end the war, reported Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. ?Nothing.?

The round of meetings came two days after Bush vetoed $124.2 billion legislation that would have funded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but also would have ordered troops to begin coming home from Iraq by Oct. 1.

Democrats said they were acting on a mandate from voters to end the war. But without the necessary two-thirds majority to override Bush?s veto, they?re having to rethink their approach.

For his part, Bush says it is his right as commander in chief to manage the war without interference from Congress. But with the war in its fifth year and having killed more than 3,350 U.S. troops, the commitment in Iraq has been deeply unpopular. Even GOP loyalists in Congress say that if the security situation in Iraq does not improve by fall, more Republicans will be willing to break ranks and challenge a lame duck president.

In a closed-door meeting Thursday with fellow Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., echoed Reid?s remark that Democrats have not agreed to drop language on troop withdrawals. Pelosi and Reid are trying to reassure more liberal members of their caucus that they?re not backing down.

Privately, however, several Democrats have signaled they intend to do so to avoid a second veto and plan to focus their attention instead on upcoming spending bills.

One option for Pelosi would be to insist on retaining the troop withdrawal language in a House version of the bill, only to agree to drop it later when it must be negotiated in the Senate.

Numerous other ideas are being floated by lawmakers, all involving some combination of standards the Iraqi government must reach. The key impasse, however, is whether to require redeployments of U.S. troops if the benchmarks are not met.