GOP Skepticism On Iraq Growing

Key Senators Urge Reduction in Troops

By Karen DeYoung and Shailagh Murray

Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, June 27, 2007; Page A01

Key Republican senators, signaling increasing GOP skepticism about President Bush's strategy in Iraq, have called for a reduction in U.S. forces and launched preemptive efforts to counter a much-awaited administration progress report due in September.

In an unannounced speech on the Senate floor Monday night, Sen. Richard G. Lugar (Ind.), the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said the U.S. military escalation begun in the spring has "very limited" prospects for success. He called on Bush to begin reducing U.S. forces. "We don't owe the president our unquestioning agreement," Lugar said.

In seeking a reduction of U.S. forces into a support role in Iraq, Sen. Richard Lugar (R) said President Bush and his team "must come to grips" with reality. (By Lauren Victoria Burke -- Associated Press)