Bush Works To Rally Support for Iraq 'Surge'

As they began previewing the speech, administration aides indicated that the president plans to address the skepticism head-on. They indicated that he will talk about the lessons the United States has learned from the past several years of failing to quell the insurgency, as well as explain why he has confidence that the Maliki government can deliver on promises that it has not met so far.

One senior White House official acknowledged it will seem "counterintuitive" to many Americans that Bush believes it is necessary to add troops in the short term to be able to withdraw them in the future. But the official -- like others, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the president has yet to formally disclose his plans -- said Bush has concluded more troops are needed to arrest the violence that he believes is impeding the Iraqi government's ability to achieve political reconciliation and economic improvements.

This official noted that the president will be proposing many more steps, including political benchmarks for the Iraqi government and an economic development program that will be heavily shaped by additional spending by Baghdad.

"An increase in troops is not a strategy in and of itself," this official said. "It is a tactic to make the new strategy successful."

Democrats continued to voice skepticism that much new and effective will come from the White House. "This is a historic speech the president is about to make. The president, faced with a choice, is choosing escalation," said Richard C. Holbrooke, a U.N. ambassador in the Clinton administration and a leading Democratic voice on foreign policy. "I don't understand what he thinks is going on in Iraq, but whatever it is, he doesn't care about politics or the Congress or his successor when it comes to Iraq. He wants to either win the war or, since that is an impossibility, pass it on to his successor."

Only Republican senators came to the White House yesterday, a sign perhaps of the president's desire to rebuild his base on the eve of a critical speech. Several seemed mixed in their comments about the president's course.

"He seemed very confident," said Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.), the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, who was in one group. "I'm convinced he's come up with a proposal that he thinks will work."

But he said he was struck by the degree of discord at his meeting. "I think I was the only senator who acted like he would be supportive," Cochran said. "I was surprised that no one said it but me."

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who met with Bush on Friday and yesterday, said he is "convinced that this plan is substantially different than anything that has been tried in the past." He added: "I am convinced that the American people want to prevail. This gives us a chance to do that."

Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) said he "felt much better" about the plan after his 20-minute meeting with Bush, although he was reserving judgment until he saw the details. Domenici said the president's plan has been mischaracterized in recent weeks and is more complex than just a buildup of troops in Baghdad, adding that the Iraqis have agreed to spend at least $10 billion and will be in charge of the security plan.

"The plan is not 20,000 soldiers -- I wouldn't even consider the plan if it was 20,000 American soldiers, because that's too small a number for a surge," he said. "The people coming out of these meetings saying it's the lead ingredient just didn't get it. There are a lot of other important elements."

Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) said the president was asked during her meeting what would be different about his new plan, and he replied that Maliki has had a "sea change" in attitude. But she said she came away unconvinced.

"I have deep skepticism about it -- about a surge addressing the root causes of the mistrust and hatred that sects have for each other," Snowe said. "That's what I expressed. The fact of the matter is that the American people don't support this war and the way it has evolved because they see the Iraqis fighting among themselves instead of for themselves."

Staff writers Peter Baker, Jon Cohen, Lyndsey Layton, Shailagh Murray and Robin Wright contributed to this report.