Criticism of Bush's Iraq policy mounts in US Congress (AFP)

Criticism of Bush's Iraq policy mounts in US Congress

by Stephanie Griffith

1 hour, 46 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The opposition-controlled US Congress is to hear from retired generals
on military options in Iraq, as sentiment against the war mounts following President George
W. Bush's announcement that more troops are going to the region.

The retired generals testifying at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday include
Joseph Hoar, who headed the US Central command in the 1990s, former National Security
Agency director William Odom, and former NATO chief Wesley Clark.

Clark, a 2004 Democratic Party presidential hopeful, and Odom have been critical of the Bush
policies in Iraq.

Also on the agenda: the House Armed Services Committee will hear from Department of Defense
officials and others on audits of reconstruction in Iraq.

The hearing comes one day after Democrats Joseph Biden and Carl Levin joined Republican Chuck
Hagel to introduce a non-binding Senate resolution calling Bush's plan "not in the national
interest."

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