How temporary is a temporary troop increase?

A US soldier on duty in Baghdad. Photograph: Darko Bandic/AP

Today's Washington Post carries a report following up last week's Guardian story on future US policy in Iraq.

The Post says the US military is leaning towards a temporary increase of between 20,000 and 30,000 troops to curtail sectarian violence, followed by a long-term plan to shrink the number of troops drastically, reducing it to 60,000.

The Pentagon plan raises several questions. Firstly, will George Bush agree to a move that is going make him even more unpopular? The Republican party took a thumping - as Mr Bush himself put it, in the midterm elections - losing control of both houses of Congress, mainly because of Iraq.

The public is probably not going to react very well to an increase in troop numbers after having made clear its disapproval of the war, and Mr Bush can also expect a big fight with the resurgent Democrats, who are pushing for a phased withdrawal.