Democrats Already Challenging Bush on Iraq

Jan. 5, 2007— -- The new Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill called on President Bush today to abandon plans for a surge of new troops in Iraq, a plan the White House is expected to announce later this month.

Calling the conflict in Iraq a civil war, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., urged Bush to begin a phased "redeployment" of American troops out of Iraq over the next few months. They rejected the administration's reported plans to add as many as 20,000 more troops to quell violence in Baghdad and elsewhere.

"We want to do everything we can to help Iraq succeed in the future, but like many of our senior military leaders, we do not believe that adding more U.S. combat troops contributes to success," Pelosi said in a joint letter to Bush, dated Friday. "Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain."

The Democratic leaders said they believed the solution to the Iraq conflict is political rather than military.

Key Republicans also worry about a troop surge. "I must say I'm concerned," said Sen. John Warner, R-Va.. "But we should give the president the option to make known his case."

Bush is expected to outline a new strategy as early as next week, ahead of his Jan. 23 State of the Union address.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the president would consider the advice of Pelosi and Reid.

"That's precisely the kind of dialogue the president would love to have. … When you say we want to do anything we can, what is that and how do you define it as success? And those are the kinds of conversations that are going on," Snow said. "So the approach that we have taken -- and there will be opportunities for Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid to speak with the president on this -- is … the president will listen. And … one of the things we'll do is welcome them to offer their suggestions."

The plan to add new troops has some high-profile supporters, including retired Gen. Jack Keane and Frederick Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute. Both Keane, an ABC News consultant and former Army vice chief of staff, and Kagan, a military analyst, have advised the White House in recent months.