"Blacks, Iraq and the War President" is the second in BlackAmericaWeb.com's five-part The Bush Report Card series examining the impact of George W. Bush's presidency on black America. Coming Monday: blacks at the table.

Click here to read "The Bush Report Card, Part One: How Has Urban Black America Fared?"

As President George W. Bush prepares to deliver his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, civil rights leaders and black lawmakers are questioning Bush’s commitment to funding domestic social programs for children and poor families while billions of dollars are being diverted overseas to pay for the war in Iraq.

Bush has been crisscrossing the country in recent weeks to bolster public support for the war by telling Americans that he plans to stay the course in Iraq, despite mounting casualties among U.S. soldiers and Iraqi citizens.

Last week, more soldiers died in combat -- bringing the total body count to 2,237 -- and another American journalist, 28-year-old Jill Carroll, was kidnaped in Iraq and her captors have threatened to kill her.

The president signed an $82 billion spending plan for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan last year. More than $300 billion has been allocated by Bush since the September 11, 2001 attacks for anti-terrorist initiatives.

Today, according to several national polls, a majority of Americans do not believe it was worth the physical, emotional and financial toll to invade Iraq.

"We’re faced with a double dilemma: How we got in, and how we get out, " Rep. John Conyers, (D-MI) the raking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "It begins to look like we got into this war based on bad information from the president, the vice president, the secretary of state and the secretary of defense."

Conyers, who claims Bush mislead Americans three years ago by saying the U.S. needed to invade Iraq to recover weapons of mass destruction, (no weapons were ever found) said in an interview this week that he sent a letter to Bush urging the president to provide "accurate" information in his State of the Union address and reminding Bush that in his speech to the nation three years ago, his "battle cry for war was false."

By Conyers’ count, Bush has made "58 errors" about Iraq and now the congressman says he questions whether Bush has abused his presidential authority.

"This is breathtaking administration arrogance," said Conyers, who is trying to create a Watergate-style judicial committee to determine whether "there are high crimes and misdemeanors in the highest levels of government" relating to Iraq.

But the White House says the war, which started in 2003, has been well worth the effort, and last week Bush’s aides released a fact sheet explaining their position, which is also supported by a number of black conservative groups.

In the past 12 months, the White House says, Iraqis have completed three successful nationwide elections, voted for a transitional government, drafted the most progressive, democratic constitution in the Arab world, approved that constitution, and elected a new government under their new constitution.

The White House also said Iraqi leaders will begin working to form a new government. In the weeks ahead, according to Bush aides, Americans will likely see political turmoil in Iraq -- as different factions and leaders compete for position and jockey for power. Yet out of this debate, they claim, will emerge a free government that represents the will of the Iraqi people.

In his December speech to the nation, Bush stood by his decision to go to war.

"I know that some of my decisions have led to terrible loss -- and not one of those decisions has been taken lightly," the president said. " I know this war is controversial -- yet being your president requires doing what I believe is right and accepting the consequences. And I have never been more certain that America's actions in Iraq are essential to the security of our citizens, and will lay the foundation of peace for our children and grandchildren."

Conyers, in his letter to Bush, urged the president to double-check his facts.

"As you prepare to deliver your fifth State of the Union address tomorrow, we write to respectfully request your personal attention to the accuracy of the information contained within your speech," Conyers wrote to Bush.

"After your delivery of incorrect information in the past, you must now take special care to ensure that every word you speak can be proven to be accurate," Conyers wrote. "Such attention to detail is crucial to repairing the trustworthiness of your words and your presidency, as well as our nation's integrity and leadership on global affairs."

Other Bush critics were equally direct.

"The fiasco in Iraq and the president's response to the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe were Mr. Bush's two most spectacular foul-ups," Bob Herbert, a black columnist, wrote in last week’s New York Times.

As the debate about Iraq continues, a key question for many black Americans remains the same: How does the war in Iraq and the phenomenal financial cost impact the daily lives of black families?

"The war does effect African Americans," Rep. Mel Watt, (D-NC) chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "Eighty-two billion dollars could go a long way to pay for health care, education and after-school programs."

Watt said he has always opposed the war in Iraq and said American soldiers should be pulled out as soon as it’s practical.

"We should get out," Watt said in an interview. "The war is costing us lots of money and lots of lives."

According to media reports, the percentage of new Army recruits who are black has been reduced significantly over the past five years, reflecting a lack of support among blacks for the war in Iraq. Five years ago, according to USA Today, nearly one in four recruits was black. In Fiscal 2005, a year in which the Army missed its goal of signing 80,000 recruits by nearly 7,000, the number of black enlistees fell to about one in seven.

But not all black Americans are opposed to the war.

Alvin Williams, president of the conservative Black America’s Political Action Committee, told BlackAmericaWeb.com that, although the war has cost billions, Bush has been able to fund core social initiatives.

"The ongoing war in Iraq, and the need for resources to work towards our goals there has required the administration and Congress to shift our fiscal priorities which has had an effect on all Americans generally," Williams said.

"There have been reductions in certain programs which have adversely affected certain segments of our population," he said. " However, the president has still managed to continue to fund and develop initiatives that have created additional opportunities for African-Americans and other Americans generally in the areas of home ownership, entrepreneurship and education."

"It will be interesting to watch the State of the Union Address this year, to see how the president and the administration will seek to strike a balance between our domestic needs and our foreign policy goals in Iraq and elsewhere," Williams added.

Several black conservatives offered mixed assessments, but were generally supportive of Bush.

"I think we miscalculated in Iraq. It’s just a messy situation," Armstrong Williams, a conservative political commentator, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. Williams added that he still has confidence in Bush and what the future holds for the war in Iraq.

"Maybe people don’t like (Bush’s) cavalier approach towards terrorists, but there has not been a terrorist attack here since 9/11," he said.

Alphonso Jackson, secretary of housing and urban development, told BlackAmericaWeb.com that black Americans should be proud that Bush is open to following the advice of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. In Rice, Jackson said, Bush has a knowledgeable adviser who wants to see the conflict resolved effectively.

"I can tell you that he gets the best advice, in terms of the war, from Secretary Rice," Jackson said.

Last week, according to the Associated Press, Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report under a Pentagon contract, concluded that the Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon's decision, announced in December, to begin reducing the force in Iraq this year was driven in part by a realization that the Army was overextended.

As evidence, Krepinevich points to the Army's 2005 recruiting slump -- missing its recruiting goal for the first time since 1999 -- and its decision to offer much bigger enlistment bonuses and other incentives.

"You really begin to wonder just how much stress and strain there is on the Army, how much longer it can continue," he told the Associated Press.

And USA Today reported that a study of recruiting trends prepared for the Army last August found that "more African-Americans identify having to fight for a cause they don't support" as a reason they are not interested in enlisting, while, for all groups, "fear of death or injury is the major barrier to joining the military today."

The war in Iraq is especially unpopular among black Americans, the newspaper said. A 2005 Pew Research poll found blacks nearly twice as likely as whites to have strong reservations. Michael Dimock, a Pew pollster, said "it would be hard to find a group where the war in Iraq is less popular."

Conyers said as long as American soldiers are in Iraq, the situation will only get worse, and he predicts the Iraq controversy will be the focus of the 2006 congressional races and the 2008 presidential election.

"The death toll will keep climbing," Conyers said. "And there is an incredible federal reduction in the budget ranging from educational opportunities to health-care benefits, to job training programs. Many Americans are counting on these programs to get out from under the lower rungs on the economic ladder."

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Monica Lewis contributed to this story.