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ByJuliePace TheAssociatedPress WASHINGTON President Barack Obama briefed leaders of Congress on op- tions for quelling an al-Qa- ida-inspired insurgency in Iraq as Republicans law- makers and administration officials clashed Wednes- day over who is to blame for the militants' lightning gains. White House officials said Obama had made no decisions about how to re- spond to the crumbling security situation in Iraq, and they cast his meeting with lawmakers as part of an effort to consult with Capitol Hill. While Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launch- ing airstrikes, such action is not imminent, officials said, in part because intel- ligence agencies have been unable to identify clear tar- gets on the ground. Obama huddled in the Oval Office for more than an hour with Senate Ma- jority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Senate Minor- ity Leader Mitch McCon- nell, R-Ky., House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Obama's decision-mak- ing has been complicated not only by intelligence gaps, but also by the Iraqi government's reluctance to embrace longer-term polit- ical changes that the presi- dent has said must accom- pany any U.S. military ac- tion. Iraq's once-dominant Sunni minority has long complained of discrimi- nation by the Shiite-domi- nated government and se- curity forces. "The entire enterprise is at risk as long as this po- litical situation is in flux," Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Sen- ate panel Wednesday. He added that some Iraqi se- curity forces had backed down when confronted by the militants because they had "simply lost faith" in the central government in Baghdad. Republicans continued to insist that Obama bore the blame for allowing the insurgency to strengthen because of his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq in late 2011 after more than eight years of war. Washington and Baghdad failed to reach a security agreement that would have allowed American forces to stay longer. "What's happening in Iraq is a direct result of the president's misguided decisions," said Rep. Dun- can Hunter, R-Calif., a Ma- rine reservist who served two combat tours in Iraq. "Militarily, the U.S. won in Iraq, but the hard-fought and hard-earned gains of our servicemen and women have been politically squan- dered by the president and his administration." The decision to with- draw from Iraq diminished U.S. spying capabilities in the Middle East, leaving Iraq largely off-limits to American operatives. In- telligence agencies are now trying to close gaps in or- der to provide the presi- dent with possible targets for strikes against the mil- itant group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The group has seized Mosul, Tikrit and other towns in Iraq as the country's military melted away. U.S. Central Command has been developing a list of possible targets that in- cludes insurgent encamp- ments, training camps, weapons caches and other stationary supplies, U.S. of- ficials said. In addition, the military is working to iden- tify more mobile targets, such as convoys and pock- ets of insurgents, as they are identified by intelligence sources or surveillance. Officials also suggested that the U.S. could more easily identify targets on the ground if Obama sent in additional Ameri- can trainers to work with the Iraqi security forces. Obama is considering that possibility, the officials said, though he has ruled out sending troops for com- bat missions. The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not au- thorized to describe classi- fied details and private dis- cussions by name. Other options under con- sideration include boosting Iraq's intelligence about the militants and, more broadly, encouraging the Shiite-dominated govern- ment in Baghdad to be- come more inclusive. Ahead of his meeting at the White House, Senate Democratic leader Reid said the U.S. had no busi- ness sending American troops into what he called Iraq's civil war. "It's time for the Iraqis to resolve it themselves," said Reid, a Nevada Dem- ocrat. Taking on Republi- cans who have blamed the current violence on the withdrawal of U.S. forces, Reid said, "Those who at- tack President Obama for bringing our troops home from Iraq are wrong and out of step with the Amer- ican people. After a decade of war, the American peo- ple have had enough." IRAQ Ob am a, C on gr es s lo ok a t ways to quell insurgency "Those who attack President Obama for bringing our troops home from Iraq are wrong and out of step with the American people. After a decade of war, the American people have had enough." — Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada EVGENIYMALOLETKA—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS A Pro-Russian fighter holds a white flag during a handover of the bodies of Ukrainian troops killed in a plane shot down near Luhansk, at a check point in the village of Karlivka near Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. By David Mchugh The Associated Press KIEV, UKRAINE The new president of Ukraine prom- ised Wednesday that gov- ernment troops would soon stop firing on pro-Russian armed separatists, offering a chance to end the fight- ing that has killed hun- dreds and wracked the in- dustrial east. In another concession to Moscow, Petro Poroshenko replaced his foreign minis- ter, who had outraged Rus- sians by using an obscenity to describe President Vlad- imir Putin. An end to the two months of fighting and a promised safe exit for rebels would al- low Putin to say that Russia has fulfilled its goal of pro- tecting Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine, while Po- roshenko can claim victory over the rebellion. The Ukrainian president discussed his plan for a uni- lateral cease-fire in a phone call with Putin late Tues- day, their offices said, and Poroshenko also spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Russia's foreign minis- ter cautiously welcomed the move, but voiced con- cern that it could be a ruse. One key question is whether Moscow is willing and able to persuade the pro-Russia insurgents to accept Poro- shenko's plan. Rebel leaders have re- mained defiant, but in a sign of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, some of them visited Moscow this week to meet with senior officials and lawmakers. The two sides managed to arrange a brief truce Wednesday evening in the eastern town of Karlivka to allow pro-Russian forces to hand over the bodies of 49 Ukrainian troops who died when the separatists shot down a transport plane bound for the airport in Lu- hansk last weekend. But after the truck carry- ing the remains had passed to the Ukrainian side, both sides fell back to their re- spective positions. A pro- Russian fighter, whose face was covered with a ban- danna and identified him- self only by his nom-de- guerre, Sova, said the cease- fire was over. "The war will go on until we win," he said. U.N. Assistant Secretary- General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic called Po- roshenko's cease-fire an- nouncement "a timely ini- tiative." But he stressed that it was "a real chal- lenge" because U.N. human rights monitors in eastern Ukraine believe there are at least three distinct armed groups that don't fully co- ordinate. "This may represent a problem because some of them might be adhering to cease-fires, some not," Si- monovic told the Interna- tional Peace Institute in New York. If successful, the plan could help ease the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War, a situation triggered by Moscow's annexation of Crimea in March following the ouster of Ukraine's pro- Russia president. Poroshenko didn't say when the cease-fire could be declared, but the de- fense minister, Mykhailo Koval, was quoted as say- ing it could begin "within days." "The plan will begin with my order for a unilateral cease-fire," Poroshenko told reporters in Kiev. "I can say that the period of the cease- fire will be rather short. We anticipate that immediately after this the disarming of the illegal military forma- tions will take place." He said those separatists who lay down their weap- ons and haven't commit- ted grave crimes would be granted amnesty and a cor- ridor to leave the country if they chose to do so. President proposes cease-fire in east UKRAINE By Amir Shah The Associated Press KABUL, AFGHANISTAN Presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah de- manded Wednesday that Afghan electoral authorities stop counting ballots from a weekend runoff vote, cit- ing new allegations of wide- spread fraud. The election commission refused and ap- pealed to all sides to await final results. The discord set the stage for a showdown that could threaten Afghanistan's first peaceful transfer of authority. Abdullah, a onetime aide to a famed warlord dur- ing the Afghan anti-So- viet guerrilla campaign, said monitors deployed by his campaign to the polls had recorded massive bal- lot box stuffing and other irregularities. He also an- nounced his team was sus- pending relations with the Independent Election Com- mission, accusing it of in- terfering in the vote and in- flating turnout figures. The finger-pointing in the June 14 election pitting Abdullah against Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai mars what Western officials had hoped would be an impor- tant step toward democracy for the troubled country as the U.S. and its allies wind down their 13-year combat mission. Both candidates have promised to sign a se- curity pact with the United States that would allow nearly 10,000 American troops to stay in the country beyond the end of this year to train Afghan security forces and perform coun- terterrorism operations. President Hamid Karzai, the only leader the coun- try has known since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban, was constitutionally barred from seeking a third term. Abdullah's team has said its exit polling shows Ah- madzai with a 1 million- vote lead in the current round and claimed election workers and government of- ficials had engineered fraud to help him. "We announce that we have no confidence or trust in the election bodies," Abdullah said at a news con- ference. "The counting pro- cess should stop immedi- ately and if that continues, it will have no legitimacy." He proposed that the two candidates form a joint com- mittee under U.N. supervi- sion to resolve the issue. A spokesman for the elec- toral commission, Noor Mo- hammad Noor, said the vote count was continuing with national and international observers monitoring the process. Preliminary re- sults are not due until July 2, followed by final results on July 22, according to the official timetable. Elec- toral officials have said they would release partial re- sults before that. "The process will not be stopped. This is Inde- pendent Election Commis- sion's decision," Noor told reporters. "We have a code of conduct for both candi- dates. We hope they both will obey that code." The U.N. mission in Af- ghanistan called for respect of the country's laws and electoral institutions, saying Abdullah's announcement had caught it by surprise. "Regrettable as this step may be, we will continue to engage closely with both campaigns and the elec- toral commissions, con- sulting with them on a way forward," the U.N.'s special representative in Afghani- stan, Jan Kubish, said in a statement. "For their part, the electoral bodies have to demonstrate the highest levels of transparency and integrity and continue to proactively respond to valid candidate concerns." A spokesman for Ah- madzai's campaign accused Abdullah of reneging on the code of conduct they both had signed. "Abdullah's reasons for wanting the counting pro- cess suspended are not suf- ficient," spokesman Faizul- lah Zaki said. "We strongly reject all accusations of fraud being engineered, and we see that as disre- specting all those citizens who accepted many prob- lems twice and participated in the election." A spokeswoman for Kar- zai's office, Adela Raz, said the outgoing president has respect for both candi- dates and hoped the prob- lem could be resolved. An initial turnout es- timate suggested 7 mil- lion voters defied a Taliban threat of violence to cast ballots, which would be 60 percent of the 12 million el- igible voters and equivalent to the first round. Abdullah's comments come as he is fighting for his second chance at the presi- dency. He was the runner-up to Karzai in disputed 2009 elections, but he dropped out of the race before a run- off could be held because of widespread vote-rigging. 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