WASHINGTON — Defying a veto threat, the Democratic-controlled Senate narrowly signaled support Tuesday for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by next March.

Republican attempts to scuttle the nonbinding timeline failed on a vote of 50-48, largely along party lines. The roll call marked the Senate's most forceful challenge to date of the administration's handling of a war that has claimed the lives of more than 3,200 U.S. troops.

Three months after Democrats took power in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the moment was at hand to "send a message to President Bush that the time has come to find a new way forward in this intractable war."

But Republicans — and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, an independent Democrat — argued otherwise.

John McCain, R-Ariz., a presidential hopeful, said that "we are starting to turn things around" in the Iraq war" and that a timeline for withdrawal would embolden the terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere.

FBI DIRECTOR CHALLENGED ON ABUSE OF POWER

WASHINGTON — FBI Director Robert Mueller struggled Tuesday to convince skeptical senators that — despite recent abuses — the FBI should retain Patriot Act authority to gather telephone, e-mail and financial records without a judge's approval.

"The statute did not cause the errors. The FBI's implementation did," the FBI chief told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

But Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., served notice: "We're going to be re-examining the broad authorities we granted the FBI in the Patriot Act." House Judiciary committee members delivered a similar message last week.

The Senate panel's ranking Republican, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, went further: "The question arises as to whether any director can handle this job and whether the bureau itself can handle the job."

Grim-faced and sometimes even looking pained, Mueller testified at the panel's second hearing into a Justice Department inspector general's report this month that revealed abuses in the FBI's use of documents called national security letters to gather data.

TORTURE SUIT AGAINST RUMSFELD DISMISSED

WASHINGTON — Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld cannot be tried on allegations of torture in overseas military prisons, a federal judge said Tuesday in a case he described as "lamentable."

U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan threw out a lawsuit brought on behalf of nine former prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said Rumsfeld cannot be held personally responsible for actions taken in connection with his government job.

The lawsuit contends the prisoners were beaten, suspended upside down from the ceiling by chains, urinated on, shocked, sexually humiliated, burned, locked inside boxes and subjected to mock executions.

Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First had argued that Rumsfeld and top military officials disregarded warnings about the abuse and authorized the use of illegal interrogation tactics that violated the constitutional and human rights of prisoners.

"This is a lamentable case," Hogan began his 58-page opinion.

ARMY SURGEON GENERAL CONCERNED ABOUT TROOP MORALE

WASHINGTON — The Army's new acting surgeon general said Tuesday she is concerned about long-term morale because the military lacks money to hire enough nurses and mental health specialists to treat thousands of troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"When the original plans were made, we did not take into consideration we could be in a long war," said Maj. Gen. Gale Pollock. She became surgeon general earlier this month after Kevin Kiley was forced to resign in a scandal over poor treatment of war-wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

"We have not been able to do the hiring," Pollock told a House Armed Services subcommittee.

She testified at the first of two congressional hearings Tuesday on veterans care during which lawmakers expressed impatience with the Bush administration's efforts. They said years of communication gaps between the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments have yet to be fixed.

Testimony from officials from the two departments highlighted the difficulties that lie ahead for the Bush administration in fixing problems following reports of shoddy outpatient treatment and bureaucratic delays at Walter Reed, one of the Army's premier facilities for treating the injured.

BRITAIN SPEAKS OUT ON DETAINED NAVY CREW

LONDON — Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Tuesday that his government could make public evidence that a British navy crew was in Iraqi waters when it was captured by Iran, saying he was prepared to take the standoff to a "different phase" if diplomacy fails to win their release.

Iran said the 15 British sailors and marines were being treated well, but refused to say where they were being held, or rule out the possibility that they could be brought to trial for allegedly entering Iranian waters.

"I hope we manage to get them to realize they have to release them," Blair said in an interview with GMTV. "If not, then this will move into a different phase."

Blair's spokesman said the prime minister was not hinting either at the possible expulsion of Iranian diplomats or military action, but that Britain may have to make public evidence proving the Britons were seized in Iraqi — not Iranian — waters, if there is no swift release of the sailors.

Releasing such evidence could have "an upside and a downside" because it could show the Iranian ships strayed into Iraqi territory and provoke a diplomatic row between the neighbors, the spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with policy.

PARENTS PLEAD NOT GUILTY IN CHILD'S DEATH

BROCKTON, Mass. — Parents accused of killing their 4-year-old daughter with an overdose of prescription drugs had concocted symptoms of mental illnesses to qualify the girl for government benefits, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Michael and Carolyn Riley pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges Tuesday and were ordered to remain in custody without bail.

The Rileys' applications for Supplemental Security Income for their daughter, Rebecca, were twice rejected after government doctors examined her and found no evidence to back the parents' claims of bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, Assistant District Attorney Frank Middleton said.

Rebecca was found dead on the floor of her parents' bedroom on Dec. 13. A medical examiner said she died of a lethal combination of prescription drugs, including a fatal dose of Clonidine, which she had been taking for ADHD.

The Rileys' attorneys blame the girl's death on her psychiatrist.

"The medicines that a totally irresponsible doctor gave her killed her — not the parents," said John Darrell, Michael Riley's lawyer.

POLLEN COATS SOUTHERN STATES

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A yellow haze of pollen descended on the Southeast in the past week, coating cars and porch furniture and making people miserable in one of the worst allergy seasons in years. Doctors are telling people with stuffed-up noses and itchy, watery eyes to spend more time indoors if they can.

"Everybody who walks through the door, you can see it in their faces," said Atlanta pharmacy owner Ira Katz, who is running low on medication to treat what he said is the worst allergy season of his 26 years in the business.

Atlanta's pollen count hit 5,499 particles per cubic meter of air Monday, the highest so far this season and the fourth highest in the 12 years that the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Clinic has been keeping records. In South Carolina, the pollen count hit 4,862, according to the Allergic Disease and Asthma Center in Greenville.

A reading of 120 is considered extremely high in the Southeast.

A lack of rain is blamed for the high pollen count. Rain scrubs pollen from the air.

WYNONNA JUDD FILES FOR DIVORCE AFTER HUSBAND'S ARREST

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Wynonna Judd said she filed for divorce Tuesday from her estranged husband, Dan R. Roach, after his arrest in Texas on sex charges involving a minor. Roach was arrested Thursday in Abilene and charged with three counts of aggravated sexual battery against a child younger than 13, according to Nashville police.

He was expected to be extradited to Nashville, said police spokesman Don Aaron.

"I am obviously devastated," Judd said in a statement posted on her Web site. "Our family will pull together, begin the healing process and hopefully — by the Grace of God — become stronger. We will move forward with our faith, family and our friends to find resolution to this difficult situation."

The couple were married in November 2003.