Iraqis inspect the wreckage of a car at the site where a car bomb exploded at a neighbourhood in central Baghdad, Nov. 12, 2006.The U.S. death toll in Iraq has risen to 30 so far this month,the military said in a statement on Sunday. (Xinhua Photo/Reuters) Photo Gallery >>>

    BEIJING, Nov. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Democrats, who took control of the U.S. Congress in last week's midterm elections, said Sunday they will push for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq to begin in the next few months.

    Three American soldiers were killed in Iraq's volatile al-Anbar province, pushing the U.S. death toll in Iraq to 30 this month, the military said in a statement on Sunday.

    Also on Sunday, the British Defense Ministry announced four British soldiers, part of a multinational force, were killed and three others badly wounded in an attack on a boat patrol in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

    Michigan Democrat Senator Carl Levin said one of the priorities for the newly elected Congress is to change the direction of Iraq policy.

    Levin, who is expected to be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in the new Congress, said on ABC's This Week that he hoped some Republicans would emerge to join Democrats and press the Bush administration to tell the Iraqi government that US presence was "not open-ended."

    "We need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months," he said.

    The White House, however, said that President George W. Bush is open to new ideas and he will meet on Monday with the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which is considering alternative approaches.

    Bush has insisted that U.S. troops would not leave until Iraqis can take over security, and has repeatedly rejected setting a timetable for withdrawal.

    Speaking on the same program, Senator Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat who is expected to head the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he supported Levin's proposal for a withdrawal.

    Since the U.S.-led war in Iraq broke out in March 2003, more than 2,800 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq, according to media count.

    (Agencies)

Bush, Democrats pledge bipartisanship after elections

President George W. Bush (R) hosts a meeting with Democratic Senatorial leadership in the Oval Office of the White House November 10, 2006. From left are Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Bush. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush met with Senate Democratic leaders at the White House on Friday and pledged cooperation with Democrats to solve "common problems."

    "The elections are over, the problems haven't gone away," Bush said after his meeting with Senator Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, and Richard Durbin, the Senate minority whip. Full story>>

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