US President George W. Bush's new Iraq plan calls for sending 20,000 more US troops to Baghdad, and creating more jobs for Iraqis, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

Quoting US officials, the report said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has agreed with Bush to match the US troop increase, made up of five combat brigades, by sending three additional Iraqi brigades to Baghdad.

Bush is expected to make the plan public this week, probably on Wednesday in an address to the nation.

Besides the troop surge, another crucial element of the plan is a job program costing as much as US$1 billion to employ Iraqis in reconstruction schemes, including painting schools and cleaning streets.

By doing so, the Bush administration intends to show that its new strategy will emphasize rebuilding as much as fighting.

The most immediate element of the job program will be a major expansion of a program that provides money to local officers to put civilians to work as a way of reducing resistance to the US presence in neighborhoods.

The new effort, officials said, will cost up to US$1 billion, part of which will be spent on other efforts to achieve stability and train Iraqis for more permanent jobs.
 
However, even in outlining the new Iraq plan, some US officials acknowledged deep skepticism about whether it could succeed.

Previous US reconstruction efforts in Iraq have failed to translate into support from the Iraqi population, and some Republicans as well as Democratic leaders have questioned whether a troop increase will do more than postpone the inevitable and precarious moment when Iraqi forces have to stand on their own.

The call for an increase in troops will also put Bush in a direct confrontation with leaders of the new Democrat-controlled Congress, who said in a letter to the president on Thursday that the United States should move instead toward a phased withdrawal of US troops, to begin within four months.

In theory, the Congress has the power to halt Bush's plan by cutting off financial support.

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2007)