US Senate panel opposes Bush plan to raise troop strength in Iraq

Washington, Jan 25 (UNI) The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed a resolution opposing President Bush's decision to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq, even after his impassioned plea to the Congress to allow his plan to succeed.

The committee adopted the measure by 12-9 vote with one Republican, Senator Chuck Hagel, breaking ranks to join the 11 Democrats on the panel in approving the resolution.

A decorated Vietnam veteran, Senator Hagel criticised Bush's decision to send more troops into a ''civil war.'' ''We better be damned sure we know what we are doing, all of us, before we put 22,000 more Americans into that grinder,'' he said.

Committee Chairman, Democratic Senator Joe Biden, was one of the co-sponsors of the non-binding resolution, which does not have the force of law.

He said, ''Our resolution of disapproval is not -- I emphasise not -- an attempt to embarrass the President. It is not an attempt to demonstrate isolation. What it is, is an attempt to save the President from making a significant mistake regarding our policy in Iraq.'' Senior Republican on the committee, Senator Richard Lugar, voted against the resolution, though he did not favour American troop increase in Iraq.

He questioned the rationale behind the resolution when the President had abundantly made it clear that he would ignore the move and go ahead with the deployment of more troops in Iraq.

The resolution, which goes to the Senate floor for consideration next week, calls upon the United States to transfer, under an ''appropriately expedited timeline,'' responsibility for internal security and halting sectarian violence in Iraq to the Baghdad government and its security forces.

It wants the Bush administration to engage Iraq's neighbours with a view to developing a regional and internationally-sponsored peace and reconciliation process for Iraq.

It also expects of the Iraqi leaders to lead the way in reaching a political settlement that could lead to peace.

Senator Biden said he would introduce tougher, binding legislation on Iraq if President Bush failed to heed the message of the symbolic resolution.

UNI