From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Iraq and the search for progress.

Hello again, I'm Arminolny, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Democratic leaders in Congress

want the rank and file to send President Bush in Iraq's spending bill before the end of this

week. But it'll only be good through the end of September when the White House gets its own

progress report from commanding General David Petraeus. On to the point, we'll get an update from

Baghdad, where at least 25 civilians were killed today by a car bomb in a crowded market.

We'll hear about the fears of U.S. Embassy personnel inside the green zone.

Will the so-called surge give the Maliki government time to reconcile sectarian factions, or is Iraq already a failed state?

On reporter's notebook later on, saving the whales.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica

and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation

and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Hello again.

I'm in Alney back with To the Point. Democratic leaders in Congress want an Iraq spending bill by the end of this week, but the real deadline is the end of September. On To the Point, will the Baghdad

surge give the Maliki government time to meet America's benchmarks, or is Iraq already a failed state? On reporter's notebook, two

whales are stuck in the Sacramento River. Thousands more are at risk from commercial

and scientific whaling. We'll hear about efforts to enforce an international moratorium.

...