President George W Bush met privately with House Republicans on Friday and agreed to an alternative resolution to set “benchmarks” for progress in his plan to send more troops to Iraq, party officials said.The House Republican resolution, which may be offered next week, calls for the creation of military, political and social “benchmarks” to monitor the success of an increase in US troops, and hold Bush and Iraqi government accountable.It also calls for creation of a bipartisan congressional panel to monitor implementation of the benchmarks.“He deferred to the leadership,” Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia said. Bush has denounced other congressional efforts to oppose his plan to send 21,500 more troops into Iraq.Bush has opposed earlier proposed congressional resolutions against an increase in troops, but facing broad resistance in Congress he appeared willing to go along with this one, officials said. He reiterated that the US needed to stay on the offensive, despite public uneasiness with the war. During a session with reporters, Bush said: “ If failure is not an option, then it’s up to the president to come up with a plan that is more likely to succeed.”
