U.S. Senate Republican pushes Iraq alternative

A leading Senate Republican vowed on Thursday to push for a vote on his measure criticizing President George W. Bush's overall plan to boost U.S. troops in Iraq, but backing Bush's call for more troops in the western Anbar province.

As lawmakers prepared to confront Bush on Iraq, the resolution by Virginia Sen. John Warner might deflect a tougher measure condemning all of Bush's planned troop increase that passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.

That measure, largely backed by Democrats, flatly opposed Bush's plan to send 21,500 more U.S. troops to Baghdad and Anbar province, declaring this was not in the "national interest."

Warner's more nuanced proposal acknowledges Bush as commander-in-chief, but says lawmakers disagree with his new Iraq plan, apart from the section about Anbar which is a center of the Sunni insurgency. It urges the president to think of alternatives.

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Aides said Warner's plan had ten sponsors -- six Democrats and four Republicans. Biden's had 17 co-sponsors but only two were Republicans.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070126/pl_nm/iraq_usa_dc_4