Republican U.S. senators seek Iraq withdrawal plan

By Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two of President George W. Bush's fellow Republicans in the Senate who seek a change of course in the war in Iraq urged him on Friday to draft plans to begin a possible troop withdrawal by the end of the year.

The proposal by Senators Richard Lugar of Indiana and John Warner of Virginia, unlike troop withdrawal plans by leading Democrats, would leave it up to Bush to order any pullout.

While it has received a tepid response from Senate Democrats and the White House, the measure underscores the growing bipartisan opposition in the U.S. Congress to the increasingly unpopular war.

Lugar's Senate speech next week, a text of which was distributed to reporters, says the Bush administration should "immediately initiate planning for post-September contingencies, including a drawdown or redeployment of forces."

"We recommend that the president and the administration design plans to be executable beginning not later than December 31," says the measure that will be offered as an amendment to a military policy bill now on the Senate floor.

Lugar and Warner are two of the most prominent Republicans in the Senate on foreign affairs and military matters. In recent weeks they have become increasingly critical of the war, leaving Bush with a more difficult path to continue combat, now in its fifth year.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had no immediate comment, while the office of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid voiced caution.

"They (Warner and Lugar) clearly recognize there is no purely military solution in Iraq," said Reid spokesman Jim Manley. "But they put a lot of faith in the president - that he will voluntarily change course."