Dangerously Irresponsible

Those are the words a leading Republican senator used to describe Junior's latest plan for continued failure in Iraq.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A second Republican signed onto a Senate resolution on Wednesday opposing President Bush's 21,500-troop buildup in Iraq, setting a marker for a major clash between the White House and Congress over the unpopular war.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, a moderate from Maine, said she would support a nonbinding resolution that would put the Senate on record as saying the U.S. commitment in Iraq can be sustained only with support from the American public and Congress.

Snowe's decision to join the effort came as the White House and GOP leaders struggled to keep Republicans from endorsing the resolution, and raised questions about how many more defections there might be.

''Now is time for the Congress to make its voice heard on a policy that has such significant implications for the nation, the Middle East and the world,'' Snowe said in a written statement.

Earlier, Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican and potential 2008 presidential candidate, joined Democrats at a news conference announcing the resolution.

''I will do everything I can to stop the president's policy as he outlined it Wednesday night,'' Hagel said. ''I think it is dangerously irresponsible.''

3,075 U.S. dead and counting
$400 billion squandered