WASHINGTON, Dec 18: A key Pentagon adviser on Sunday proposed sending additional 40,000 troops to Iraq for at least a year while a prominent Democratic lawmaker said he would not oppose a temporary increase in US forces in Iraq.

General (retired) Jack Keane, an influential member of the Pentagon’s Defence Policy Board, told ABC News that he had recommended sending 40,000 more troops to Iraq for more than a year.

Gen Keane met President George W. Bush at the White House last week and reports in the US media indicated that Mr Bush was leaning toward taking the general’s advice on Iraq.

In the same talk show, incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he would support a temporary troop increase in Iraq.

After winning last month’s midterm congressional elections, senior Democratic leaders had said that by voting for them, the American people had rejected the Bush administration’s policy of “staying the course” in Iraq. They also urged the Bush administration to bring back all combat troops by early 2008.

In the talk show, Senator Reid, a Democratic from Nevada, also emphasised this position saying that any increase in troops should be part of a broader strategy to bring combat forces home by early 2008.

“If the commanders on the ground said this is just for a short period of time, we’ll go along with that,” said Mr Reid, citing a time frame such as two months to three months. But a period longer than that, such as 18 months to 24 months, would be unacceptable, he said.

“The American people will not allow this war to go on as it has. It simply is a war that will not be won militarily.

It can only be won politically,” the senator said. “We have to change course in Iraq.”