KEY POINTS:
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush today tried to shore up support among fellow Republicans for increasing US troops in Iraq but a bipartisan group of senators drew up a resolution opposing his plan.
According to a Senate aide who spoke on condition of anonymity the Senate resolution is expected to say:
"Whereas the US strategy and presence on the ground in Iraq can only be sustained with the support of the American people and bipartisan support from Congress ... it is not in the national interest of the United States to deepen its military involvement in Iraq, particularly by escalating US troop presence in Iraq."
The proposal was expected to be unveiled later in the day by the three senators who drafted it -- Democratic Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden of Delaware and Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin of Michigan along with Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a long-time war critic.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said Republican lawmakers were coming to the White House today for a "candid exchange of views" about Bush's new strategy adding troops in Iraq.
He would not give names nor say now many were invited for the meeting, but said "probably everybody there is at least sceptical" of Bush's plan to send about 21,500 more US troops to Iraq to try to stabilise Baghdad and Anbar province.
"They will make their concerns known," Snow said.
Bush has said he will not be swayed by Congress or public criticism. "I made my decision and we're going forward," Bush told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview broadcast on Monday.
Both the newly Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and Senate are planning symbolic, but politically important, resolutions rejecting Bush's plans.
With polls showing most Americans disapprove of the troop increase, the nonbinding resolutions would force Republicans to reveal publicly where they stand on Bush's strategy and could further isolate the White House.
"The key here is bipartisanship," said the Senate aide who was familiar with the Biden-Hagel-Levin proposal. "The only way to get the president to change course is to show him that members of his own party oppose him."
It was unclear how soon a Senate vote would take place, aides said. House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said the House would probably pass a resolution by a significant bipartisan majority expressing disapproval of the troop increase, but was waiting for the Senate to go first.
The timing could be an embarrassment to Bush, who is set to deliver his annual State of the Union address to Congress on Wednesday.
Bush will try to persuade Republicans to stick with him. The White House says a resolution could send a signal to the world that America is divided on the war. A poll released this week by the Pew Research Centre said 61 per cent of Americans opposed Bush's plan, while 31 per cent favoured it.
"It is a question that those who are talking about these resolutions will have to answer to themselves and to the public," Snow said.
Potential presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States should cut funds for protecting Iraq's government leaders and training and equipping its military if the country's Shi'ite leaders fail to give the minority Sunnis a greater role in government.
The New York Democrat also said she opposed sending more troops to Iraq, in part because it would siphon off US military strength in Afghanistan.
- REUTERS
