http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/05/us.iraq/index.htmlDemocrats to Bush: No more troops to IraqStory Highlights•NEW: In letter to Bush, Pelosi and Reid reject troop increase in Iraq
•Spy chief John Negroponte moves to State Department, pending Senate approval
•New Iraq commanders are also set to be announced
•Bush says revised Iraq plan will be revealed "sometime next week"
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In a letter to President Bush on Friday, leaders of the new Democratic Congress said increasing troop levels in Iraq would be a "serious mistake."
The open letter comes as Bush considers a new war strategy, shuffles his Iraq commanders and moves his spy chief to handle Iraqi diplomacy.
Sources with knowledge of the president's deliberations have told CNN that Bush may temporarily bolster the roughly 140,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq by an additional 20,000 to 40,000 -- a move loudly rejected in the letter.
"Surging forces is a strategy that you have already tried and that has already failed," says the letter, signed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
"Like many current and former military leaders, we believe that trying again would be a serious mistake. They, like us, believe there is no purely military solution in Iraq. There is only a political solution."
The Pelosi-Reid letter also says sending more troops to Iraq will endanger more Americans and stretch the "military to the breaking point for no strategic gain." More than 3,000 U.S. troops have lost their lives since the war began in 2003.
The leaders called for "phased redeployment of our forces in the next four to six months," while shifting their principal mission from "combat to training, logistics, force protection and counter-terror."
Bush, who said he'll announce a blueprint for his new strategy "sometime next week," discussed Iraq on Friday afternoon with a bipartisan group of senators.
Emerging from the meeting, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, said both parties are looking for a workable solution.
"I think all of us want the best possible outcome in Iraq, Democrat and Republican," Obama said. "All of us have great misgivings about what's been taking place, Democrat and Republican.
"I think this is not a partisan issue. I think we have a problem the entire nation faces.
"There is a philosophical divide, but I think that divide is becoming more muted, in part because I think a lot of members of the Republican Party are just as concerned about this and a lot of the American people, regardless of party, are concerned about this."
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, said, "I think the American people's patience is wearing thin with vagueness."
Reshuffling
The president announced Friday that John Negroponte, currently director of national intelligence, will become the new deputy secretary of state, where he's expected to handle Iraq affairs. (Full story)
Also, Bush's top U.S. generals for the Mideast region and Iraq will be replaced, senior U.S. military officials said Friday. (Watch Bush explain why he wants to move intelligence and diplomatic officials)
Lt. Gen. David Petraeus is Bush's choice to replace Gen. George Casey as the commander of troops in Iraq, another senior military official said.
Petraeus, commander of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center, has served in Iraq and was one of the main authors of the Army's new manual on counterinsurgency efforts.
U.S. Navy Adm. William Fallon, who currently oversees U.S. forces in the Pacific, has been tapped by Bush to replace Gen. John Abizaid, the head of U.S. Central Command who is retiring this year, two senior U.S. military officials told CNN Friday.
If confirmed by the Senate, Fallon would take over Central Command, which controls U.S. forces in the Middle East, including Iraq and Afghanistan.
During his Navy career, Fallon commanded U.S. forces in the Atlantic and served as vice chief of naval operations, according to his biography from the U.S. Pacific Command.
Because of his Navy background, Fallon is an unusual choice to head the Central Command, which has responsibility for a land-dominated region that includes the Middle East and parts of Africa.
Until now, the post has always gone to an Army or Marine general, just as the ocean-dominated Pacific Command usually goes to a Navy admiral. But Fallon does have the advantage of representing a clean slate in regard to the current Iraq policy.
In addition to these changes, administration officials said on Thursday that the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, is the leading candidate to be the next American ambassador to the United Nations.
Bush conferences with Iraq PM
Bush talked with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki about the future of the war Thursday but did not reveal any changes in U.S. strategy during their videoconference, the White House said. (Watch Bush's olive branch to military commanders)
Bush told reporters that his nearly two-hour videoconference Thursday morning with al-Maliki convinced him that the Iraqi leader "has the will necessary to make the tough decisions."
"I will be ready to outline a strategy that will help the Iraqis achieve the objective of a country that can govern, sustain and defend itself sometime next week," Bush said. "I have still got consultations to go through."
A White House memorandum leaked in November questioned whether the Shiite Iraqi leader was capable of cracking down on sectarian violence. And al-Maliki told The Wall Street Journal last week that he never wanted his job and wished he could quit.
Bush said Thursday: "I told him, 'You show the will, we will help you.' "