Special report:Tension escalates in Iraq

Related: Bush takes blame in Iraq, adds troops

U.S. President George W. Bush pauses as he speaks about Iran and Iraq during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington Feb. 14, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed a nonbinding resolution that opposes U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to send more troops to Iraq.

    The resolution was passed on a 246-182 vote, with more than a dozen Republicans joining the Democratic majority to endorse it.

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, said the vote signals "a change in direction in Iraq that will end the fighting and bring our troops home."

    "The stakes in Iraq are too high to recycle proposals that have little prospect for success," she said.

    The vote marks the first time that the House openly rejected Bush's war policy.

    The resolution declares that "the Congress disapprove of the decision of President George W. Bush announced on January 10, 2007" to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq.

    But it also states that "the Congress and the American people will continue to support and protect the members of the United States armed forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honorably in Iraq."

    The resolution is nonbinding, but it will add pressure to the Bush administration and its Iraq policy.

    The U.S. Senate Democratic majority said they plan to hold a test vote in the Senate Saturday on whether to start a debate on the House resolution.

    It is not clear whether the Democrats will get the 60 votes needed for the Senate to proceed with the resolution.

    Opinion polls indicate a solid majority of the U.S. public opposes Bush's plan, and Democrats said the November election victories that put them in control of Congress show Americans want to wind down the nearly four-year-old war.

    But Bush has said repeatedly that he won't bow to the growing pressure on the Iraq issue from the Democrat-controlled Congress.

    In a speech on Wednesday, the president shrugged off the non-binding resolution opposing his Iraq policy.

    "They (U.S. lawmakers) have every right to express their opinion," he said, adding that it is "only a non-binding resolution."

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