Reid slams Bush credibility on funding

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Monday dismissed President Bush's warnings about U.S. troops running out of money in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"People know how I feel about his credibility, OK? Let me just say that the president is not leveling with the American people," Reid told a news conference, referring to Bush's comments that Congress is letting the troops down.

Reid said Defense Secretary Robert Gates has reported the Army has enough money to operate until the first of March, and the Marines have enough until the middle of March.

The majority leader said he hoped to have another vote on war funding by the end of the month. Bush is insisting on funding without conditions, while congressional majority Democrats want some assurance that U.S. troops eventually will be withdrawn.

Funding has been tied up in the impasse.

Reid said he believed Congress could reach a compromise: "I think that there's a general feeling that President Bush is unreasonable. The Republicans, I think, feel that way also."

Reid said the U.S. military "surge" in Iraq "hasn't accomplished its goals, as we see right here; 2007 is the deadliest year of the war. Violence is as it was two years ago in the fall of 2007."