WAR IN IRAQ Recent developments

Following are the latest developments on the Iraq war:
Democrats forced the Senate into a rare secret session Tuesday to demand that the Republican majority further investigate the Bush administration's handling of intelligence related to the war in Iraq. After a testy showdown that lasted more than two hours behind closed doors, Senate Republicans agreed to restart an inquiry into the administration's use of intelligence. Still, furious Republicans called the move a "stunt" and a "scare tactic" designed to score partisan political points. At issue was a long-standing promise by intelligence committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., to broaden the panel's investigation into how intelligence was used to go to war.
Coming off one of the deadliest months for American troops, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld indicated Tuesday that the number of U.S. forces in Iraq could rise temporarily as Iraqis prepare to vote in mid-December parliamentary elections.
The Iraqi government on Tuesday blamed a Moroccan based in Syria for a triple car bomb attack that killed at least 60 people north of Baghdad, and the defense minister called on Arab governments to demand that Syria curb the movement of foreign fighters into Iraq. Also Tuesday, the U.S. military said an American soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in central Iraq the day before, raising to at least 93 the number of U.S. service members who died in October, the fourth-deadliest month for the troops in the Iraq war.
Source: Combined dispatches