Redeploy troops, say GOP senators - Given Warner's and Lugar's clout, their Iraq proposal -- though not a mandate -- is a new obstacle for Bush.
WASHINGTON — President Bush faced a new challenge to his Iraq war strategy Friday when two key Republican lawmakers proposed forcing the White House to submit a plan to start redeploying troops by the end of the year.
Sens. John W. Warner of Virginia and Richard G. Lugar of Indiana -- former committee chairmen and authorities on foreign and military affairs -- called on Bush to be prepared to shift away from a combat role.
"We want to avoid a drift in Iraq policy," said Lugar, who after years of standing by the president called publicly for change 2 1/2 weeks ago in a detailed critique of the White House's current strategy in Iraq.
The much-anticipated proposal does not mandate a troop withdrawal. Congressional Democrats have been demanding such a mandate for months.
And the measure may be largely symbolic, as odds are long that it can win the support of a bipartisan supermajority of 60 senators.
On Friday, evidence emerged that military officials already were planning to begin redeploying next year. In a Pentagon briefing with reporters, Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. "Randy" Mixon, commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, said he had recommended that U.S. forces in his area begin to draw down in 2008 -- a process that could take a year to 18 months to complete.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Friday that he did not know how many U.S. troops would need to remain in Iraq over the long term.
Warner and Lugar's proposal underscored the Pyrrhic nature of the president's success this week in persuading Republicans on Capitol Hill to wait until after a September progress report to challenge his strategy.
Bush has been working to stem defections by GOP lawmakers, who increasingly are questioning the effectiveness of a plan he announced in January to deploy 30,000 more troops in Baghdad and elsewhere in a "surge" to quell violence and allow Iraq's political leaders to reduce sectarian tensions.
Doubts were fueled this week by a congressionally mandated report in which the administration conceded the Iraqi government had failed to make substantial progress on most of the 18 key political goals. These benchmarks are widely considered essential steps to reduce sectarian violence.
Most Republicans -- even those critical of the troop buildup -- seem willing to refrain from voting for a change in course until the administration delivers a more detailed report on Bush's "new way forward" strategy on Sept. 15.
