Bush warns against using funds debate to stop troop surge

US George W. Bush warned his Democratic opponents on Monday that he would fight any attempt to use the debate on war funding to undercut his controversial troop "surge" in Iraq.

Speaking a gathering of US state governors at the White House, Bush said he expected a "healthy debate" on the war but said he was concerned about any move by Congress to limit funding.

Bush he would be "strongly defending the budgets we send up to Congress, to make sure those troops who are in harm's way have the resources and that we have the flexibility necessary to ... execute the plan we've laid out."

Congress vote in the coming weeks on Bush's request for US$93.4 billion in supplemental funding this year for the "war on terror," and a request for US$141.7 billion to cover military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan next year.

Some Democrats, who now hold a majority in Congress, see the debate as an opportunity to block a military buildup in Iraq that they regard as an escalation of the war.

They have taken aim at the deployment of more than 21,500 troops in addition to the 140,000 already there. Bush insists this "surge" is needed to stop the sectarian bloodshed and secure Baghdad and western al-Anbar province.

A narrow majority of Americans now favor setting a deadline for the withdrawal of US forces in Iraq and a record number say they disapprove of the war, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Monday.

Fifty-six say US forces should be withdrawn eventually even if civil order has not been restored in Iraq, reflecting a continued and gradual departure from the "you break it, you've bought it" sentiment, ABC said.

Bush the governors that his plan was "more likely to succeed than any of the alternatives that were presented to me," and that a premature withdrawal would lead to "chaos."

The left wing of the Democratic party believes that cutting financing for the war is the best way to stop the president.

Democrats are maneuvering to revoke or rewrite the 2002 resolution that authorized Bush to go to war.

However, Democrats are divided. Many worry that they will be accused in the debate of denying troops money needed to protect them.

Bush with that idea on Monday: "I think it's important for people to understand the consequences of not giving our troops the resources necessary to do the job," he said.

"Our men and women in uniform risk their lives to carry out our plan to support this new democracy and to secure Baghdad. And wherever members may stand on my decision, we have a solemn responsibility to give our troops the resources and the flexibility they need to prevail," Bush said.

The White House also signaled it would fight any attempt to rewrite the 2002 war resolution.