Top Democrats oppose sending more US troops to Iraq

Washington, Jan 6: Top leaders of the new Democratic-led US Congress have opposed the proposed increase in the American troop strength, though for a short term, in Iraq, even as President Bush is getting ready to announce his new Iraq policy.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a letter yesterday, told the President that addition of more combat troops in Iraq would only endanger more Americans and stretch the US military to the breaking point for no strategic gain.

On the contrary, the Democratic leaders who now control the Congress, wanted the President to set in motion in four to six months, the process of bringing the troops back home and shift the mission of US forces there from combat to training and logistical support.

Apparently, they were responding to the media reports, suggesting that the President may temporarily dispatch about 20,000 troops to Iraq.

Earlier, Senator Reid, in a floor speech, had said, ''The president's new plan must ensure that Iraq takes responsibility for their own future, and remove our troops from this civil war.'' Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joe Biden also objected to any possible escalation in the number of US troops in Iraq.

However, Republican Senator John McCain, who is expected to seek the party nomination for president next year, favours increasing US troops in Iraq.

''The presence of additional coalition forces would give the Iraqi government the ability to do what it can not accomplish today on its own, impose its rule throughout the country,'' said McCain.

Key House and Senate Committees are planning a series of hearings on the Iraq war beginning next week.

UNI