Senators, in Iraq, quarrel over war

BAGHDAD -- The increasingly rancorous public debate in the United States over the war spilled into Iraq during a news conference yesterday with two visiting lawmakers who are outspoken opponents on the issue.

Senators John McCain, Republican of Arizona, a longtime supporter of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, and Russell Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, who voted against the invasion and has spoken out against the war ever since, said they had come not to air their divergent views, but to urge Iraqi politicians to speed up the process of forming a government. But during questions from reporters, they argued -- cordially and pointedly -- over such issues as the timing of any withdrawal of US troops and whether their presence is doing more harm than good.

Feingold said he believed ''a large troop presence has a tendency to fuel the insurgency because they can make the incorrect and unfair claim that the US is here to occupy the country."

''I think that it's very possible that the sectarian differences are inflamed by the fact that US troops are here," he continued, adding that their long-term presence ''may well be destabilizing, not stabilizing."

Asked a question on a different topic, McCain quickly responded, ''I believe that premature troop withdrawal is not in consonance with what's going on on the ground."

With Iraq bogged down in sectarian violence in recent months while political leaders struggled to form a new government, debate over American policy has intensified in the United States. Several visiting politicians, including McCain, have warned that the American public was turning against the war, and urged Iraqi leaders to move more quickly in building a coalition government.

American politicians traditionally avoid public disagreements when traveling abroad, particularly in war zones where US troops are serving. McCain said the argument was better suited for the Senate floor, and Feingold said he would ''go into more details when I'm home."

The two senators, considered potential presidential candidates in 2008, were among a seven-member delegation of legislators and governors -- five Republicans and two Democrats -- who met yesterday with Iraqi leaders such as President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari and with US commanders.

Their visit occurred as more violence was reported across Iraq, including a terrifying attack that took place earlier in the week in the western city of Ramadi. Armed insurgents burst into teacher Khidhir al-Mihallawi's classroom at Sajariyah High School on Wednesday, accused him of being an agent for the CIA and Israeli intelligence, and beheaded the English instructor in front of his students, according to students, fellow teachers, and a doctor at a local hospital.

A spokesman for the Marines responsible for Anbar Province, whose capital is Ramadi, said he had no information on the attack. A spokesman for Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Maysara al Iraqi, acknowledged that the group had killed Mihallawi, but denied he was beheaded. He said the educator was killed outside the school.

He asked reporters not to publicize the attack, calling it ''an internal affair."

In Baghdad yesterday, a mortar shell struck a home in the restive neighborhood of Dora, killing two people and wounding six, according to police.

Elsewhere in Iraq, police south of Baghdad found at least 10 bodies of people who had been shot to death, their hands bound.

East of Baghdad, four people were killed and two wounded when a roadside bomb tore through their vehicle.