GOP Leader Says Senators Are Frustrated By Iraq

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate GOP leader, said Sunday that senators in both parties are frustrated with the Iraqi government. <br/><br/>``I don't know what their problem

Sunday, May 13th 2007, 3:36 pm

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate GOP leader, said Sunday that senators in both parties are frustrated with the Iraqi government.

``I don't know what their problem is, but this country has made an enormous investment in giving the Iraqis a chance to have a normal government after all of these years of Saddam Hussein and his atrocities,'' McConnell said on CNN's ``Late Edition.''

``And there's a growing sense of bipartisan frustration in the Senate over the lack of progress on the political side of the Iraqi government,'' he said. ``I think benchmarks will be a part of the final package that we get to the president for signature on the troop funding bill.''

Bush has offered to seek compromise with congressional Democrats over a war spending bill setting benchmarks for progress in Iraq.

McConnell said House Democrats ``have gone from micromanaging the war to now trying to microfund the war.'' But he said that Republicans also ``overwhelmingly feel disappointed about the Iraqi government. I read just this week that a significant number of the Iraqi parliament want to vote to ask us to leave.

``If they vote to ask us to leave, we'll be glad to comply with their request,'' McConnell said.