USA: Members of U.S. Congress debate the increase of U.S. troops to Iraq which Bush is expected to announce this week.

The increase of U.S. troops to Iraq which Bush is expected to announce soon inspires debate among members of the U.S. Congress on news channels. Members of Congress debated the merits of President George W. Bush's expected plan to send more U.S. troops to Iraq on Sunday (January). While Democrats, who now control a majority in Congress, spoke out against the plan, they stopped short of saying they will cut funding to the troops. Bush, who has launched a high-level overhaul of his Iraq team, is expected to outline a shift in course in the unpopular war this week with what could be a short-term increase of up to 20,000 U.S. troops to try to restore stability to Baghdad. Senator Joseph Biden, the Delaware Democrat who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he has drafted a Senate "resolution of disapproval" to try to dissuade Bush from seeking higher troop levels. "The question is do we continue with a policy that is failing. We've tried this policy twice in the last twelve months - surging troops into Baghdad. Unfortunately my friends have got this backward. We need a political solution before you can get a military solution," said Biden on the NBC talk show, "Meet The Press." "All the king's horses and all the king's men will not put Iraq together again - absent Maliki making some very hard decisions about what he's going to do," added Biden, a potential 2008 presidential candidate who expects to set up an exploratory committee by the end of the month to begin laying the groundwork for a Democratic nomination bid. But Biden also conceded that Congress can do little to prevent Bush from acting as he sees fit. Senator Lindsey Graham, along with Presidential hopeful John McCain, is one of the Republican supporters of an increase in U.S. troops in Iraq. "We are not winning and if you're not winning you're losing. Now's the time to come up with a strategy to win. The reason President Bush is going to do this is because he understands we have to win in Iraq," said Graham. The new Congressional Democratic leaders, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Congressional Democratic leaders urged Bush in a letter last week to reject a troop increase and begin a phased withdrawal from Iraq. Steny Hoyer, the number two Democrat in the House behind Pelosi, said Bush's proposal for a "surge" in troops will be met with scepticism by Congress. "First of all we see this as an escalation and not a change. Essentially we've gone up and down on troop levels before. We did so just recently when we sent troops into baghdad, we sort of had community by community success, but in general escalation in violence, sectarian confrontation and loss of life. We don't see this as a good policy and I think it's going to be greeted with great scepticism," said Hoyer on the "Fox News Sunday" program. However, Democratic leaders have stopped short of saying Congress would block funding for the White House strategy. Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said he believes Congress does not have the power to "micro-manage" the war and that it is unlikely they would try to cut off funding for the troops, which is seen as being politically risky. "Congress tools to micromanage the war are quite limited. About all Congress could do if it chose to do it, and I don't believe it will choose to do it, would be to cut off money for the troops. Beyond that we can pass resolutions, we can have hearings, we can debate the matter which we will do, but beyond that I don't think Congress will have the ability to simply micromanage the tactics in the war nor should it."

ITN Source | January 8, 2007

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