Bush to unveil new plan for Iraq on Wednesday

U.S. President George W. Bush will announce his new strategy for Iraq Wednesday night, which many expectwill include sending more American soldiers to the volatile country.

Speculation about what Bush's announcement will contain has swirled for weeks.

Media reports have suggested Bush wants to send 20,000 more soldiers toIraq on a short-term basis.

There are currently about 144,000 U.S.soldiers in Iraq, down from a peak of 160,000 in 2005.

Democrats are already speaking against sending more troops.

After taking control of the House and the Senate last week, Democratic leaders released a letter to Bush demanding that troops begin withdrawing from Iraq in four to six weeks.

The letter from Senate majority leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said U.S. forces should focus on training and supporting Iraqi soldiers, rather than fighting.

"We are well past the point of more troops for Iraq," the letter said.

On Sunday, Pelosi said Bush will not be able to send more troops without good reason.

"If the president wants to add to this mission, he is going to have to justify it," she told CBS News.

"And this is new for him because up until now, the Republican Congress has given him a blank cheque with no oversights, no standards, no conditions."

3,000 American soldiers have died in Iraq

At least 3,000 American soldiers have died in Iraq since the war began in 2003.

Bush's announcement on Wednesday will also address ways to stabilize Iraq both politically and economically, the New York Times reported Monday.

Citing unnamed senior officials, the Times said Bush will try to draw disengaged Sunnis into the political process by promising to set a date for provincial elections.

Bush will also look at completing a long-delayed national oil law that will give the Iraqi government the power to distribute oil revenues to the provinces and regions based on their population, the Times said.

Bush consulted in December with top U.S. generals and Defence Department officials to prepare his new Iraq strategy.

At the time, Bush hinted that he would not pull troops out of Iraq. He said he wouldnot consider any ideas that involve "leaving before the job is done."

Bush will address the public on Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET.

Refugee crisis growing in Iraq: UN

As the White House prepared for Bush's announcement, the United Nations refugee agency made an emergency appeal Monday for $60 million US to help the millions of Iraqis who have fled their homes.

The refugee agency says 40,000 to 50,000 Iraqis are displaced every month, with 3.7 million fleeing in all.

"The longer this conflict goes on, the more difficult it becomes for the hundreds of thousands of people displaced and the communities trying to help them," Antonio Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees, said in a news release.

About 1.7 million Iraqis have fled their homes for other communities within Iraq. Up to 2 million have taken refuge in other countries, including Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, the refugee agencysaid.

The agency says the current exodus is the biggest the Middle Easthas seen since Palestinians fled the newly created Israel in 1948.