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While U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he was "prepared to listen to what the President has to say," he told reporters he "cannot support an increase in troops" to Iraq as part of a plan to quell sectarian violence there.
Sestak, a retired Navy admiral who oversaw air-combat operations in Afghanistan and patrolled the no-fly zone in Iraq prior to the March 2003 invasion, reiterated his belief that the war has harmed U.S. national security by depleting the military.
"We have an Army that’s already strained almost to the breaking point, and now we’re going to increase that strain," said Sestak, who made his first House floor speech Tuesday in favor of legislation to implement the remaining 9/11 Commission recommendations.
U.S. Rep. Robert Brady, D-1, who voted against the October 2002 resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, said in a statement that he is "opposed to the Bush surge."
"I believe putting more troops on the ground in the middle of a worsening civil war will only result in more of the men and women in our military being killed and maimed," Brady said.
According to the Department of Defense, 3,005 troops have been killed in Iraq -- 2,859 since the end of combat operations on April 30, 2003.
Like his Republican counterpart, U.S. Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., is willing to listen to Bush’s plan tonight, but his spokesman, Larry Smar, said he is leaning against supporting an increase in troops.
"He’s going to try to keep an open mind and hear the plan from the president, but it’s going to take an awful lot of convincing to persuade Sen. Casey that a surge in troops is a good idea," Smar said. "It sounds an awful lot like more of the same and not the change in course that’s needed."
Bush’s proposal is expected to link the troop increase to commitments of troops and reconstruction funds by the Iraqi government. One U.S. official said he would likely ask for more than $1 billion to jumpstart the country’s economy and create jobs.
The most recent USA Today/Gallup Poll shows that 72 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Bush is handling the war; 61 percent oppose a temporary increase in U.S. troop strength.
"I think even if you put a soldier on every street corner in Baghdad you would still have chaos in that country because the divisions are so deep," said Martin Goldstein, a government and politics professor at Widener University.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said Bush realizes the public has grown weary of the war, but insisted that he "will not shape policy according to public opinion."
Edward Turzanski, a national security analyst and political science professor at La Salle University, left open the possibility that the president’s plan could work. But, he said, it must have the backing of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders.
"They have to say they want it and have to be cooperative," Turzanski said. "If they’re not, than those critics of the administration have a point. To what end do we commit further troops?"
Turzanski said Bush must define the troops’ mission as an effort to disarm and neutralize the sectarian gangs, not to serve as "referees" between Sunnis and Shiites. He questioned whether 20,000 troops would be sufficient to accomplish the goal.
The Associated Press contribute to this report.
