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Senate begins debate of Bush plan Monday

By TIMES WIRES
Published February 2, 2007

The Senate will begin formal debate Monday on legislation opposing President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq, but Democrats aren't sure they have the 60 votes they'll need to overcome Republican opposition and move to a final vote. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and his leadership team said Thursday that they didn't have a firm vote count for the bipartisan resolution. It effectively declares no confidence in Bush's plan to send more U.S. troops to Baghdad and urges him to reconsider. Democratic leaders acknowledged they could fall short because liberal Democrats consider the resolution too weak. It was developed by Sen. John Warner, R-Va. Democratic leaders chose to endorse his plan and drop a more critical version by Sens. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., because they say it likely has a better chance of winning enough votes to overcome Republican objections.

Surge to cost triple what's projected?

President Bush's decision to send more American troops to Iraq could cost as much as $10-billion this year, nearly triple the initial $3.2-billion price tag Bush aides placed on the surge, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday. If the additional troops remain in Iraq for more than a year, the CBO said, the cost could rise as high as $29-billion. And under traditional staging formulas, the added combat troops could require up to 28,000 support personnel, at a cost of another $12-billion through next year. Sean Kevelighan, a White House budget office spokesman, disputed the CBO cost projection, saying the additional brigades would cost $5.6-billion through 2007 - still a higher number than Bush aides' original estimates.

Brzezinski: Iraq could lead to Iran

Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former U.S. national security adviser for the Carter administration, told Congress on Thursday the war in Iraq was a calamity and was likely to lead to "a head-on conflict with Iran and with much of the world of Islam at large." Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Brzezinski skewered Bush administration policy as driven by "imperial hubris." While other former U.S. officials and ex-generals have criticized administration policy in committee hearings, none savaged it to the degree Brzezinski did. He set out as a plausible scenario for military collision: Iraq fails to meet benchmarks set by the administration, followed by accusations Iran is responsible for the failure, then a terrorist act or some provocation blamed on Iran, and culminating in so-called defensive U.S. military action against Iran.

Iraqis invite their neighbors for talks

Iraq invited officials from Iran, Syria and other neighboring nations to Baghdad next month to discuss the security situation in the country, the Associated Press reports. A Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information, said the talks will be the first of 10 such meetings to take place in the Iraqi capital.

U.S. soldier killed in Anbar province

A U.S. soldier died Thursday of wounds sustained in fighting in Anbar province, the military said. The soldier was killed after being wounded in fighting on Tuesday in the Sunni insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, the military said. The soldier was not identified pending notification of relatives.

[Last modified February 2, 2007, 01:39:36]