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

There's the worsening war in Iraq and the ongoing finding in Lebanon. It's a double squeeze on the Bush administration.

I'm Mark Cooper sitting in for Warren Olney, and this is to the point from Public Radio International, a daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Against a background of worsening violence and threats of civil war in his own country, the Iraqi Prime Minister speaks to Congress and pleads for ongoing American support.

But there's new tension in the U.S. Iraqi relationship as the Baghdad government descents from

Bush policy on Israel.

And later in the show, after today's international peace meeting in Rome, are we any closer

to a ceasefire in the war in Lebanon?

First, 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. McArthur Foundation. I'm Mark Cooper, sitting in for Warren Allney, back with

To the Point from PRI. An average of 100 sectarian murders a day, deepening fears of all-out

Civil War, drooping political support at home, and now George W. Bush

has got another complication in the war in Iraq, a new prime minister who openly dissents

with Washington. Today, on To the Point, what's the immediate future of U.S.-Iraqi relations,

and what does it mean for the future of the war? Later in the program, ceasefire or more war in Lebanon.

First, this news update. The Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress this morning and pleaded for continued American backing for his embattled and fledgling government. The speech came amidst considerable

controversy, with some congressional Democrats upset that Maliki had previously criticized Israel as an

aggressor in Lebanon, but he had said nothing about Hezbollah. But in today's speech, Maliki spoke only of

the war in his country and was met with a standing ovation from both sides of the aisle.

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