According to the US Congress, in a second day of hearings at the Senate Armed Services Committee on January 12, there was plenty of congressional skepticism about Mr Bush's strategy, which would add 21,500 US troops to the 132,000 already in Iraq. Mr Bush is expected to ask for US$100 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and his plan to add troops is estimated to cost an additional US$5.6 billion.

Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat who oversees military funding, said he will propose tying congressional approval of war funds to shutting the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba. Other conditions he said he is considering include not extending troop deployments and giving soldiers and Marines more time to train between deployments. Nevertheless, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate intend to hold symbolic votes in coming days to demonstrate the extent of opposition to Mr Bush's troop increase. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told fellow Democrats in a closed-door meeting that she intends to allow the Senate - where several Republicans have been vocal in their criticism of the president - to begin debate first.

It’s worth noting that Republican Sens. John Warner of Virginia and Susan Collins of Maine said they were gravely concerned about the fate of Iraq. They asked new US Defence Secretary R.Gates why the administration thinks the plan will work when past attempts have failed. Mr Warner said the goal must be to keep Iraq from being “scattered to the winds” in the region.

The loudest objections to Mr Bush's plan were expressed by Democratic Sens. Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts.

“In his speech to the nation, the president threatened that starting to bring our troops home would mean new terrorist threats to our homeland,” said Mr Byrd. “That's exactly the same sales job that was used to justify the start of this misguided war - that Saddam Hussein was planning for the day in which he would unleash weapons of mass destruction on our cities.”