Democrats took the first step toward a wartime repudiation of US president George Bush today, convening a Senate committee to endorse legislation declaring that the deployment of additional troops to Iraq is “not in the national interest".

Suspected terrorists will continue to be held in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said US Vice President Dick Cheney, amid concerns by some fellow Republicans the situation may be counterproductive.

"I have a sense it's a horrendous number of lives lost." -- New York City