In a rising revolt in Bush's own party, senior Republican Senator John Warner and colleagues proposed a resolution calling on Bush to find alternatives to his plan, announced January 10, to send 21,500 more US troops to Iraq in a last-ditch effort to restore security.

In a press conference together with Republican Senators Susan Collins and Norm Coleman, Warner said the resolution aimed at registering "genuine concerns" in the Congress about Bush's plan.

"It is clear that the United States' strategy and operations in Iraq can only be sustained and achieved with support from the American people and with a level of bipartisanship in Congress," Warner, an influential member of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, said.

"The purpose of this resolution is not to cut our forces at the current level or to set any timetables for withdrawal but, rather, to express the genuine, and I repeat, the genuine concerns of a number of senators from both parties about the president's plan," he said.

The non-binding resolution, one of several proposed challenging Bush's war plan but the first offered by such senior Republicans, reads: "The Senate disagrees with the plan to augment our forces by 21,500 and urges the president instead to consider all options and alternatives for achieving the strategic goals set forth below with reduced force levels than proposed."

Warner's announcement came a day before Bush is to defend the highly unpopular strategy in his annual State of the Union speech to Congress.

In also comes as Democrats in the Senate -- with the support of Republican Senator Chuck Hagel --are readying a more strongly-worded, also non-binding resolution that says the troop increase is not in the national interest of the United States.

The Democratic resolution heads for debate Wednesday in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Warner's resolution stresses that it is not aimed at contravening Bush's power as the US Commander in Chief, but insists that Congressional and popular support is key to sustaining the US effort in Iraq.

It says the US strategy should focus on conducting counter-terrorism operations in Iraq and training and equipping Iraqi forces to assume security responsibilities.

While Bush's plan also includes those point, its key focus is to increase US troop levels in an attempt to reestablish security in Baghdad and Al-Anbar provinces before handing security duties over to the Iraqis.

With already more than 3,000 new troops having arrived in Iraq over the weekend under the new plan -- in addition to more than 130,000 already in the country -- Bush has remained determined to push ahead with the new approach.

"What matters is what happens on the ground. That would be the best way to show the American people that the strategy, the new strategy I've outlined, will work," Bush told USA Today in an interview published Monday.

White House spokesman Tony Snow echoed the point to reporters Monday: "George W. Bush as a president is not somebody who is going to cease to be bold because right now people are concerned about the progress of the war."

Democrats, who took control of Congress in November elections amid voter anger over the war, are using their newfound power to challenge the president on Iraq.

They have insisted that Bush will not get "a blank check" as they consider a raft of proposals, ranging from a resolution rejecting his troop increase, to bills capping US forces at the existing level or even cutting war funds altogether.