US House plans to challenge Bush on Iraq next week

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) Democrats in the US House of Representatives today vowed to challenge President George W Bush's Iraq strategy with a short, simple repudiation of his plan to send more troops to the war.

Unlike the Senate, which tied itself in knots over how to debate the issue and wound up shelving it, the House will take up Iraq next week.

''We're just saying no'' to Bush's recent decision to add 21,500 troops in Iraq, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said of the proposed nonbinding resolution.

The Senate was still deadlocked over whether to pass judgement on the unpopular Iraq war, which Democrats believe propelled them into the majority in Congress and which both parties say is the most important issue now facing Americans.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said that with Iraq in such turmoil, debate was inevitable and senators would try again, perhaps before the end of the month.

He did not say how the procedural impasse would be broken, but pointed out that some Republicans now were calling for a return to the issue.

''This war is winding down no matter what President Bush says,'' Reid said.

House Democrats said they would begin debate on a concise resolution on Tuesday declaring support for US troops, but opposing Bush's plan to send more.

Bush, a Republican, has said he will not be swayed by such nonbinding resolutions on Iraq. But House Democrats also did not rule out cutting funding for the war when spending bills are debated in coming weeks.

''There's an appropriate place for it (funding debates) and that's when the funding comes up,'' Rep Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat, said.

Some House members want to push ahead with binding legislation. A former three-star admiral, Democrat Joe Sestak, introduced binding legislation today calling for US troops to be pulled out of Iraq by the end of this year.

Senate Republicans earlier this week blocked the chamber from considering a proposal opposing Bush's troop boost. By mid-week, seven of them were seeking to renew debate on the issue, and on Thursday their leaders pledged to try.

But Senate Republican leaders also said the issue of funding for the troops should be part of that debate. It was their insistence on considering an amendment forbidding a funding cutoff that lead to the current Senate deadlock.

REUTERS DKS BST0201