USA: Leading U.S. Senators are in heated debate over Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq.

President Bush's plan to send more U.S. troops to Iraq has inflamed passionate debate among leading U.S. Senators. Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy says because the President is defying the majority opinion of the U.S. Congress and the American people, Congress has a responsibility to end funding for the war. Senator John McCain, recognized as a leading Republican contender for the Presidential nomination, is a steadfast defender of the need for more troops. It's a war of words among U.S. members of Congress over President George W. Bush's plan for stemming violence in Iraq, which would send 21,500 more U.S. troops to the region. Democrats, who won control of Congress in the 2006 elections, have pushed for a phased withdrawal of some 130,000 U.S. troops there now. Next week senators could vote on a bipartisan non-binding resolution opposing the boost in forces. Senator Kennedy on Sunday (January 21) said Congress also has to consider ending funding for the war. "If we have a President that is going to effectively defy the American people, going to defy the generals, defy the majority of the Congress of the United States, Republicans and Democrats, then we, I think, have a responsibility to end the funding for the war," said Kennedy on the NBC Sunday program "Meet The Press." The Massachusetts Senator called the situation in Iraq a "disaster" and had harsh words of blame for the President. "It is a disaster, and it's going to be a continuing disaster for these servicemen. The best way you can serve their interests is not put them in harms way and we ought to require this president, who has been wrong on every important decision on Iraq, to come to the Congress and the American people to get approval to go in that direction," said Kennedy. Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, and one of the leading proponents in Congress for additional troops in Iraq said a bipartisan non-binding resolution opposing an increase in forces is harmful. "This resolution is basically a vote of no confidence in the men and women we're sending over there. We're saying we're not going to stop you from going there but we don't believe you can succeed and we're not willing to support that. I don't think the troops would find that an expression of support," he said. Amid this war of words, President George W. Bush will use his State of the Union address on Tuesday to argue for staying in Iraq and try to build support for his domestic plans. Bush goes before a joint session of the U.S. Congress, which Democrats control for the first time in his presidency, as many lawmakers are in a hostile mood over his plan to send 21,500 more U.S. troops to Iraq. His speech comes two weeks after he delivered a major address laying out his retooled Iraq strategy, which many Americans doubt will work and which prompted Democrats and some Republicans to prepare a congressional resolution expressing their displeasure. Bush is expected to defend his Iraq strategy as a vital step in the broader war on terrorism in his address that this year will focus on several big issues.

ITN Source | January 22, 2007

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