WASHINGTON — Wearied by the lack of progress in Iraq and by the steady stream of military funerals back home, a growing number of Republican lawmakers who had stood loyally with President Bush are insisting his strategy has failed and are calling on him to bring the war to an end.
In the last two weeks, three GOP senators -- including one of the party's leading voices on foreign affairs and one of Bush's strongest allies -- have urged the president to change course now so U.S. troops can start to withdraw.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday July 10, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 0 inches; 33 words Type of Material: Correction
Republicans on Iraq: An article in Saturday's Section A about loyalists' dissent from President Bush said that Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) was up for reelection next year. Her term expires in 2013.
And Friday, in interviews with the Los Angeles Times, two more Senate Republicans bluntly voiced disappointment with the president's approach and pressed for change.
"It should be clear to the president that there needs to be a new strategy," said Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. "Our policy in Iraq is drifting."
Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, who helped lead the charge earlier this year against Democratic efforts to oppose Bush's troop buildup, said: "We don't seem to be making a lot of progress."
It is vital to have "a clear blueprint for how we were going to draw down," he said.
None of these GOP lawmakers has embraced Democratic legislation to compel a troop withdrawal. But nearly five years after congressional Republicans overwhelmingly answered Bush's call for military action against Iraq's Saddam Hussein, some are doing what was once unthinkable: challenging a wartime president from their own party.
By publicly branding Bush's buildup a failure and calling for troops to begin coming home, they are forcing a reluctant White House to reassess how long it can maintain a large military presence in Iraq.
Administration officials had hoped GOP lawmakers would stand with them at least until September, when the top generals in Iraq are scheduled to report on the effectiveness of the troop buildup.
The tide of Republican dissent began to grow two weeks ago when Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, former chairman of the foreign relations committee, delivered an earnest plea for change from the floor of the Senate. Sen. George V. Voinovich of Ohio expressed similar doubts in a letter he sent to the president the next day, and Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, the former chairman of the armed services committee, openly praised Lugar for speaking out.
On Thursday, Sen. Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico joined the group of dissenters, which just a few weeks ago included only a handful of GOP lawmakers -- led by Nebraska's Sen. Chuck Hagel and Oregon's Sen. Gordon H. Smith.
