US:President George Bush is putting the final touches to a new strategy for Iraq that most Democrats and many Republicans look certain to oppose when it is announced this week.
In a speech to the nation, probably on Wednesday, the president is expected to propose an increase of up to 20,000 US troops in Iraq as part of a counter-insurgency plan that also includes economic measures.
Democratic leaders in Congress have already rejected the idea of a troop surge, and House speaker Nancy Pelosi hinted yesterday that the Democratic majority could refuse to fund the plan.
"The burden is on the president to justify any additional resources for a mission. Congress is ready to use its constitutional authority of oversight to question what is the justification for this spending, what are the results we are receiving.
"There's not a carte blanche, a blank cheque for him to do whatever he wishes there," she said.
Democrats have ruled out cutting off funds to US forces already in Iraq but, as they start congressional hearings into the war this week, house and senate committees could reject funding proposals for the new plan.
Senate foreign relations committee chairman Joe Biden said yesterday that increasing troop numbers would be a prescription for further tragedy in Iraq.
"It's a sense of the Senate to try to convince the president that there are significant numbers in the United States Senate who think this proposal is a mistake and hopefully force him to reconsider," he said.
The president's plan is likely to involve sending five additional combat brigades of 3,500-5,000 soldiers each to Baghdad, which would be matched by Iraqi forces. Mr Bush also wants to give US commanders a budget of up to $1 billion (€770 million) for temporary job-creation schemes and micro-loans to businesses in an effort to win support among local communities.
Some administration officials are themselves sceptical about the plan's prospects for success, fearing that the government of Nuri al-Maliki will be unable to fulfil its part of the deal.
Two-thirds of the new Iraqi forces in Baghdad would be made up of Kurdish soldiers sent from the north and there is some doubt about their willingness to deploy.
Mr Bush appears set to reject key elements of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group's report, which called for the withdrawal of most US combat forces by early 2008 and direct talks on Iraq's future with Iran and Syria.
Opinion polls show that fewer than 12 per cent of Americans favour sending more troops to Iraq and Ms Pelosi urged the president to heed the message voters sent in November's election.
"The American people have spoken very clearly on the subject in the election. And this war in Iraq is damaging our military readiness, so it is not making America safer, it is not making the region more stable," she said.
The troop surge enjoys the support of some Republicans, including the party's presidential front-runner for 2008, Arizona senator John McCain.
South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham acknowledged yesterday that some Republicans opposed the plan, but he argued that it represented the best chance of avoiding failure in Iraq.
"If we don't start over and do what we should have done in the beginning - having enough people to win this war - we will pay a heavy price," he said.
Ms Pelosi warned, however, that the president could no longer ignore the views of Congress, promising close scrutiny of every proposal in committee hearings.
"If the president wants to add to this mission, he is going to have to justify it, and this is new for him because, up until now, the Republican Congress has given him a blank cheque with no oversight, no standards, no conditions," she said.