Congress begins three-day debate on troop surge for Iraq

US: Two out of three Americans want all US troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2008, according to a poll released…

US:Two out of three Americans want all US troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2008, according to a poll released as Congress began debating President George Bush's decision to send more troops there.

A week after a procedural dispute prevented a Senate vote on the issue, the House of Representatives yesterday started three days of debate on a resolution expressing support for US troops in Iraq but condemning the troop increase.

The resolution, which is less than 100 words, says Congress "will continue to support and protect the members of the United States armed forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honourably in Iraq" but adds that it "disapproves of the decision of President George W Bush announced on January 10th, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq".

Each member of the House will be allowed to speak for five minutes but speaker Nancy Pelosi will not permit a vote on any Republican amendments or alternative resolutions.

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"At the end of the debate, we will vote on a straightforward proposition: whether we support the president's plan or oppose it. That vote will signal whether the House has heard the message the American people have sent about this war: the current policies have not worked, will not work and must be changed," she said.

The resolution is almost certain to be approved, with up to 60 Republicans expected to cross the floor in support of it. This week's vote will be non-binding but Democrats are preparing to attach binding conditions to Mr Bush's request for an extra $100 billion (€76.8 billion) to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Democrats will agree to the extra funding on condition that troops could be deployed to Iraq only after being certified as fully trained and equipped; National Guardsmen and reservists could be subject to no more than two deployments, or about 12 months of combat duty; and the administration could use none of the money for permanent bases in Iraq.

Yesterday's USA Today/ Gallup poll showed that, although a clear majority of Americans want to cap troop numbers in Iraq and to withdraw all US forces by the end of next year, most oppose any move to cut off funding for troops already there.

House Republican leader John Boehner warned that Democrats are determined to use Congress's power to stop funding the war.

"This resolution is the first step in the Democrats' plan to cut off funding for American troops who are in harm's way, and their leaders have made this abundantly clear," he said.

Democrats are divided over how robust their action against the war should be. Republican moderates fear Iraq could cost them their seats in 2008 and some, including New York's Jim Walsh, see this week's resolution as an opportunity to put distance between themselves and Mr Bush.

"Depending on the number of Republicans, we can send a message to the president that we stuck with you, thick and thin, but we cannot support this. With enough of them, it will make the president rethink this next step," Mr Walsh said.

Mr Bush said this week that he will probably be too busy to follow the congressional debate on Iraq, adding he knew already what legislators think. In an interview with C-Span television, he dismissed as political chatter suggestions he is gearing up for an attack on Iran.

"I guess my reaction to all the noise about, you know, 'he wants to go to war,' is, first of all I don't understand the tactics, and I guess I would say it's political. On the other hand, I hope that the members of Congress, particularly in the opposition party, understand the great danger of Iran having a nuclear weapon."

US military officials in Baghdad claimed this week the "highest levels" of the Iranian government had directed the smuggling of sophisticated roadside bombs to Shia militias in Iraq.

Joint chiefs of staff chairman Gen Peter Pace acknowledged yesterday, however, there was no evidence the government in Tehran was involved in supplying the bombs which have killed more than 170 US soldiers.

Gen Pace said US forces in Iraq had arrested Iranians and that some of the material used in the devices was made in Iran.

"That does not translate that the Iranian government per se, for sure, is directly involved in doing this. What it does say is that things made in Iran are being used in Iraq to kill coalition soldiers," he said.