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Politics

Warner resolution opposes new troops

By WASHINGTON POST
Published January 23, 2007

WASHINGTON - Sen. John Warner, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, endorsed a new resolution Monday opposing President Bush's plan to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq.

The resolution is expected to garner the support of many Senate Republicans, especially those facing re-election next year. The measure appeals to many rank-and-file Republicans because it allows them to voice their differences with the administration without embracing the highly critical language of another bipartisan resolution co-sponsored by another leading Republican, Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, one of the sharpest critics of the administration's Iraq war policy.

The new resolution's co-sponsors are Warner of Virginia and Sens. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ben Nelson, D-Neb.

Even House Republicans, once the president's firmest bulwark, made their skepticism clear Monday, calling for benchmarks for success in Iraq that House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said would "hold the Bush administration and the Iraqi government accountable and require the administration to report to Congress every 30 days."

"I support the president's plan," Boehner said. "But we have a duty to candidly and honestly assess whether the new strategy will be effective and ultimately successful."

[Last modified January 23, 2007, 01:34:27]