GEORGE BUSH declared war yesterday on rebellious Republicans in Congress who ambushed an ambitious intelligence reform Bill that was supposed to make America safer.

Mr Bush, whose 11th-hour appeal for support, in a rare call from Air Force One, was rejected by the rebels, will “continue to talk to Congressional leaders” about getting the reforms passed as soon as possible, a White House spokesman said.

The Bill is based on the recommendations of the September 11 commission, which investigated ways to avoid another al-Qaeda attack. The panel proposed a profound reorganisation of the intelligence community, which was blamed for failing to predict the 2001 attacks.

Mr Bush, who was initially reluctant to hold a sweeping inquiry, eventually backed the Bill, which would have created an intelligence czar, inaugurated a national counter terrorism centre and required the Pentagon to cede intelligence budget control to the new spy chief.

Democrats and Republicans, in a rare spirit of bipartisanship, may have seen their efforts to pass the Bill fail when a group of hardliners refused to allow a vote on Saturday. A compromise could be worked out in December but key proponents of the Bill are pessimistic.

Duncan Hunter, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee resisted an appeal for support from Dick Cheney, the Vice-President. The Californian congressman believes a new spy chief could interfere with the military chain of command and rob the Pentagon of its control of the $40 billion intelligence budget, about 80 per cent of which is in the hands of Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary.

John Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, wanted the Bill to clamp down on illegal immigration by making it easier to deport undocumented aliens and prevent them from obtaining drivers’ licenses.

“The forces in favour of the status quo are protecting their turf, whether it is Congress or in the bureaucracy,” said Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who backed the Bill in the Senate. “At a time when we are in a war we can’t allow turf concerns to triumph,” she added.

The Bill divided September 11 families. Two groups backed it, including The 9/11 Families Steering Committee, calling the rebels “unconscionable”.

The American Civil Liberties Union also criticised the Bill. Laura Murphy, an ACLU spokeswoman, said the Bill was “far from perfect” from a civil liberties standpoint.

But she praised the Senate, which supported the Bill, for refusing to accept the “anti-immigration and unnecessary law enforcement powers” their House counterparts sought. Mr Bush wants Congress to approve the Bill even without the immigration provisions, which were dropped during negotiations.

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