Nation & World Briefly 7/23

Obama: Withdrawal from Iraq by 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama said he pressed Iraq's prime minister on Wednesday to make room in his government and security forces for all ethnic and religious groups to prevent a resurgence of the violence and turmoil that took the country to the verge of civil war.

Vowing to hold to agreements to pull all U.S. forces out of Iraq by the end of 2011, Obama said he and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki realized violence had not ended and there "will be some tough days ahead."

"There are still those in Iraq who would murder innocent men, women and children," Obama said in a Rose Garden appearance with al-Maliki. "But make no mistake, those efforts will fail."

It was al-Maliki's first visit to the White House since Obama took office, a session that took place three weeks after U.S. troops were pulled out of Iraqi cities and towns. All U.S. combat troops are to leave in August 2010 and the remainder of the U.S. force will depart at the end of the next year.

Health care vote may wait until fall

WASHINGTON (AP) - Conservative House Democrats signaled on Wednesday that Congress is far from fulfilling President Barack Obama's goal of overhauling health care, just hours before the president planned another televised appeal to lawmakers to get the job done.

"We are making progress; however, we have a long way to go," Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., chairman of the Blue Dog health care task force, said in a statement. He said they would continue to work with the administration and Democratic leaders on legislation they can ultimately support.

Obama's ambitious timetable of votes in the House and Senate before Congress' August recess is slipping as moderate and conservative Democrats - the so-called Blue Dogs - demand additional cost

savings.

Concealed guns law rejected in vote

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate on Wednesday rejected letting people carry hidden guns in 48 states if they have a concealed weapon permit in any one of them, a rare victory for gun control advocates in a Democratic-controlled Congress that has been friendly to the gun lobby.

Opponents said it would force states with tough concealed weapon permit restrictions to let in gun carriers from states that give permits to convicted criminals, minors and people with no firearms training.

A strong majority of the Senate, in a 58-39 vote, supported the measure, which would require most states to honor the concealed weapons permits issued by other states.

The measure that fell two votes short of the 60 votes needed to add the measure as an amendment to a defense bill.