SENATE REPUBLICANS WANT BUSH PLAN TO END IRAQ WAR

In a sign of increasing unease among congressional Republicans over the war in Iraq, the Senate is to consider on Tuesday a Republican proposal that calls for Iraqi forces to take the lead next year in securing the nation and for the Bush administration to lay out its strategy for ending the war, The NEW YORK TIMES will splash on page ones Tuesday. Excerpts.
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The proposal from Sen. Bill Frist, the majority leader, and Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, also requires the Bush administration to provide extensive new quarterly reports to Congress on subjects like progress in bringing in other countries to help stabilize Iraq.

The plan, which will be debated as part of a Pentagon policy measure that also contains new limits on the legal rights of terror detainees, stops short of a competing Democratic proposal that moves toward establishing dates for a phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq. But it is built upon the Democratic approach and makes it clear that senators of both parties are increasingly eager for Iraqis to take control of their own country in coming months and open the door to removing American troops.

Warner said the underlying message was, "we really mean business, Iraqis, get on with it." The senator, an influential party voice on military issues, said he did not interpret the wording of his plan as critical of the administration, describing it as a "forward-looking" proposal.

"It is not a question of satisfaction or dissatisfaction," he said. "This reflects what has to be done."

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