WASHINGTON — Anti-war lawmakers in Congress are undermining U.S. troops in Iraq by trying to limit President Bush's spending requests for military operations, Vice President Dick Cheney said today.

His remarks came as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scheduled a Wednesday test vote on a resolution that calls for combat troops to leave Iraq by March 2008.

Also this week, a House committee will consider legislation that would fully fund the administration's $100 billion request for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan yet demand that troops leave Iraq by the end of August 2008 and possibly the end of 2007.

With those showdowns nearing, Cheney tried to put Democrats on the defensive.

"When members speak not of victory but of time limits, deadlines and other arbitrary measures, they are telling the enemy simply to watch the clock and wait us out," Cheney said in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

BUSH PUSHES FREE TRADE IN LATIN AMERICA

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala — President Bush promoted free trade as a salve to Latin America's woes, speaking out against poverty from dusty mountain villages today to counter critics' portrayal of America as the devil to the north.

Helping to load lettuce headed for the global market with U.S. help and touring an American military center that provides basic medical care and physician training, Bush emphasized U.S. largesse in this part of the world.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the leftist firebrand with rising stature who has been shadowing Bush throughout this trip, was in Jamaica and Haiti, countries he is courting with preferential oil contracts and generous aid packages. His message is that the United States ignores the needs of Latin America.

Bush met in Guatemala City with President Oscar Berger, a conservative leader who has become a strong U.S. ally. Trade and immigration were high on the agenda.

SECRET HEARINGS BEGIN AT GUANTANAMO BAY

WASHINGTON — Secret hearings for two suspected masterminds of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and a third terror suspect were held over the weekend at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as the military launched proceedings to determine whether 14 high-profile detainees should be prosecuted.

According to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, hearings for Abu Faraj al-Libi and Ramzi Binalshibh were Friday, and a hearing for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was Saturday. He said another hearing at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba was scheduled for today.

The hearings are to determine whether the detainees should be declared "enemy combatants" who can be held indefinitely and prosecuted in a military tribunal.

Mohammed is believed to have been the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks with the alleged help of Binalshibh, who also is suspected of being involved in a foiled plot to crash aircraft into London's Heathrow Airport.

Al-Libi is a Libyan regarded by Pakistani intelligence as a successor to Mohammed as the third-ranking al-Qaida leader. He became the most wanted man in Pakistan for reportedly masterminding two bombings 11 days apart in December 2003 that targeted President Pervez Musharraf for his support of the U.S.-led war on terror. Musharraf narrowly escaped injury, but 17 other people were killed.

U.S. TROOPS TO SHUT DOWN CAR-BOMB FACTORIES ALONG BAGHDAD'S PERIMETER

BAGHDAD — With violence down in Baghdad, U.S. troops will fan out into communities on the rim of the capital to shut down car-bomb factories, which remain a threat despite a recent drop in execution-style killings in the city, the U.S. military said today.

At least 55 people have been killed by bombs in Baghdad over the last three days, including three security guards who died today in a blast targeting an Agriculture Ministry convoy.

Chief U.S. spokesman Maj. Gen. William C. Caldwell said most of the car bombs and improvised explosive devices — the military's term for roadside bombs — are believed to be assembled in makeshift factories in towns just outside the capital.

"And that's where the greater presence of these forces will go," Caldwell said without elaborating or giving a timeframe.

U.S. officers have said Baghdad, a city of about 6 million, cannot be secured without extending the security operation into communities that control major highways into the capital. Many Sunni and Shiite extremists are believed to have withdrawn to those outlying areas since the U.S.-led security crackdown began in Baghdad on Feb. 14.

FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH TREATED FOR DEHYDRATION

HOUSTON — Former President George H.W. Bush was treated at a California hospital for dehydration and released today after collapsing during a golf outing in Palm Springs. Jean Becker, Bush's chief of staff, told The Associated Press that Bush fainted while playing golf with friends Sunday in 94-degree heat.

"He's fine, he really is fine," Becker said. "He became dehydrated, and he had a fainting spell. He came to right away, but as a precaution, they took him to the hospital and then — much to his dismay — as a precaution, they held him overnight. The doctors released him first thing this morning."

Bush, 82, and former first lady Barbara Bush were in California visiting Lee Annenberg, a family friend and the widow of billionaire publisher and diplomat Walter Annenberg.

President Bush was informed of his father's condition on Sunday night, before leaving Bogota, Colombia, for Guatemala City as part of a Latin America trip. He talked to his father by phone from Air Force One.

NEW THEORY ON HEAT SOURCE OF SATURN MOON

LOS ANGELES — Scientists believe heat from radioactive decay inside a tiny, icy Saturn moon shortly after it formed billions of years ago may explain why geysers are erupting from the surface today. The Cassini spacecraft last year beamed back dazzling images of Yellowstone-like geysers spewing from a warm section on Enceladus, raising the possibility that the moon, which has an overall surface temperature of about minus-330 degrees, may have an internal environment suitable for primitive life.

However, scientists have been stumped by the origin of Enceladus' interior heat. Now a new model suggests ancient radioactive decay played a key role in shaping the moon's warm south pole region, where plumes of water vapor and ice crystals periodically vent.

According to the theory, Enceladus formed some 4.5 billion years ago by the mixing of ice and rock containing radioactive isotopes of aluminum and iron. Over a period of several million years, the rapid decay of the isotopes produced a burst of heat that resulted in a rocky core enclosed by an ice sheet. Over time, the remaining decomposition in the core further warmed and melted the moon's interior.