Iraq \Developments

The latest developments in Iraq:

The Senate on Tuesday kicked off debate on legislation to add a grab bag of domestic programs to President Bush’s war request, including work permits for immigrant farm labor and heating subsidies for the poor. The White House renewed its veto threat.

Hundreds of Iraqi soldiers entered the volatile Sadr City district of eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, meeting virtually no resistance from the Shiite militia fighters who in recent weeks have clashed heavily with U.S. and Iraqi troops, Iraqi officials said. The deployment of hundreds of government troops to the area began before dawn. It was the start of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s long-awaited effort to restore order in the vast Shiite slum, home to scores of militiamen loyal to radical anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Source: Combined dispatches