By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Trying to get President George W. Bush to reverse plans for boosting U.S. troop strength in Iraq, senators from both political parties unveiled on Wednesday a nonbinding resolution opposing the increase.
"I believe that when a president goes way off course on something as important as Iraq, the single most effective way to get him to change course is to demonstrate that his policy has waning or no support -- from both parties," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, a Delaware Democrat and one of the co-sponsors, told reporters.
The White House sought to corral lawmaker support for Bush's plan to send some 21,500 more U.S. troops to Iraq to try to stabilise Baghdad and Anbar province.
Some senators who visited the White House and met National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said on Wednesday they may produce their own counter-resolution supporting the president's plan, setting the stage for a major debate on Iraq policy.
"There were senators who were suggesting that approach ... of not giving up in Iraq," said Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who earlier had suggested he would try to block a vote on any resolution rejecting the troop increase, said Wednesday he favored the Senate considering "various alternatives" on Iraq.
The bipartisan resolution opposing the troop increase also called for a strategy for a political settlement in Iraq, and a regional, internationally sponsored peace process on Iraq.
"Whereas the U.S. strategy and presence on the ground in Iraq can only be sustained with the support of the American people and bipartisan support from Congress ... it is not in the national interest of the United States to deepen its military involvement in Iraq, particularly by escalating U.S. troop presence in Iraq," the resolution said.
PRESIDENTIAL AMBITIONS
Biden drafted the resolution along with Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, and Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a long-time war critic who is said to harbor presidential ambitions.
Bush has said he will not be swayed by Congress or public criticism. "I made my decision and we're going forward," Bush told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
In addition to the Senate, the House is also planning a non-binding resolution rejecting Bush's plans, but House leaders have said the Senate can go first. Both chambers are newly controlled by Democrats after November elections.
With polls saying most Americans disapprove of the troop boost, the nonbinding resolutions would make Republicans reveal where they stand and could further isolate the White House.
Hagel denied the sponsors were defeatist, or were trying to assign blame to Bush, and scornfully dismissed charges by Cornyn that the resolution was a "political ploy" -- even though Hagel and Biden are expected to run for president.
"No one ... wants to see this country humiliated, defeated, or in any way lose its purpose," Hagel said. "There is no moral high ground that one group of senators has over the others."
Biden hoped to have a committee hearing on the resolution next week. It was unclear how soon after that a Senate floor vote could take place, but it would not happen before Bush's annual State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday.
Democrats were piling on the criticism. Potential presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a New York Democrat, said she would introduce legislation capping U.S. troops in Iraq at the level before Bush's increase. She urged more troops for Afghanistan.
Ilinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, another presidential hopeful, planned a bill urging "phased redeployment" of U.S. troops from Iraq. In the House, California Rep. Lynn Woolsey introduced a bill calling for all U.S. troops to come home in a six-month time frame.
(additional reporting by Steve Holland, Peter Szekely, Richard Cowan, Thomas Ferraro and Donna Smith)
