President Bush's new Iraq strategy will call for sending more troops there in an effort to quell violence, rather than the current strategy of training more Iraqi troops, according to a BBC report. The BBC says the new plan will be revealed within days.

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The BBC was told by a senior administration source that the speech setting out changes in Mr Bush's Iraq policy is likely to come in the middle of next week. Its central theme will be sacrifice.

The speech, the BBC has been told, involves increasing troop numbers. The exact mission of the extra troops in Iraq is still under discussion, according to officials, but it is likely to focus on providing security rather than training Iraqi forces.

Tthe idea has already met with criticism, even from Republican officials. Reuters reports that Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) of Nebraska has called it "Alice in Wonderland."

The Financial Times reports that Mr. Bush is expected to look for an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 troops "as a short-term boost to the existing 140,000 level, with the aim of stabilising the violence in Baghdad and surrounding provinces." But again, opposition within his own party could create a problem.

In the past two days, a number of prominent Republican senators, including Arlen Specter and Richard Lugar, the outgoing chairmen of the Senate judiciary and foreign relations committees, have voiced strong scepticism about an increase in troops.

Although Mr Bush could expect the support of John McCain, the 2008 presidential hopeful, and Lindsey Graham, another Republican senator, the Republican tide appears to be moving against boosting troop levels. A number of Republicans have pointed out that Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, is also opposed to a beefed-up US military presence.

The conservative commentary site, PipelineNews.org, however, appears to advocate a renewed focus on victory in Iraq, which is expected to be a key point of the president's new plan. The site reports that the new strategy looks to be very similar to an earlier one drawn up by retired General Jack Keane, a former vice chief of staff of the Army for the current Bush administration, and military historian Frederick W. Kagan, a former West Point instructor and current fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

The Keane/Kagan plan is really quite simple.

The majority of sectarian and Al Qaeda spawned violence is located in Iraq's largest city, Baghdad. Securing it is therefore of primary importance and that can be done with an infusion of approximately 50,000 additional American troops who will then be deployed in clear-and-hold operations which will, as the plan's executive summary states, stabilize and normalize the city:

1. We must change our focus from training Iraqi soldiers to securing the Iraqi population and containing the rising violence. Securing the population has never been the primary mission of the U.S. military effort in Iraq, and now it must become the first priority.

2. We must send more American combat forces into Iraq and especially into Baghdad to support this operation. A surge of seven Army brigades and Marine regiments to support clear-and-hold operations starting in the Spring of 2007 is necessary, possible, and will be sufficient.

3. These forces, partnered with Iraqi units, will clear critical Sunni and mixed Sunni-Shi'a neighborhoods, primarily on the west side of the city.

4. After the neighborhoods have been cleared, U.S. soldiers and marines, again partnered with Iraqis, will remain behind to maintain security.

5. As security is established, reconstruction aid will help to reestablish normal life and, working through Iraqi officials, will strengthen Iraqi local government. This approach requires a national commitment to victory in Iraq."

The Associated Press reports that pundits and political experts say that the president has gone out of his way this time to seek outside opinions about the situation in Iraq and how it could be improved. The only downside, they say, are the high expectations he has created in the American public.

There might as well be a drum roll.

"He has built up expectations," said David Gergen, a former White House adviser in the administrations of presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton. "People are saying, 'OK, if you've spent all this time and effort on it, you better have a pretty darn good plan.'"

AP reports that the danger with high expectations can be seen in the report of the Iraq Study Group, which "was so highly anticipated that when it was not embraced by the White House in toto, it seemed to fall flat and fade from view."

• Iraq investigates mobile phone footage of Hussein's execution (BBC)
• Bush is Neville Chamberlain in Iraq (Conservative Voice)
• Oh, my Saddam (Steve Martin on The Huffington Post blog)

Feedback appreciated. E-mail Tom Regan.