Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Republican Senator Richard Lugar, outgoing chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said President George W. Bush should consult with the incoming Democratic-led U.S. Congress before announcing plans for Iraq.

``In the past, the administration has been inclined not to disregard Congress, but to not take Congress very seriously,'' Lugar said today on Fox News. ``I think this time Congress has to be taken seriously.''

Lugar suggested that members of the Foreign Relations panel be allowed to study Bush's proposal before the president addresses the nation sometime after Jan. 1. Bush can expect ``a lot of hearings, a lot of study, a lot of criticism'' if he doesn't, Lugar said. The debate could get ugly, ``and it need not,'' he said.

After meeting with top national security officials at his Crawford, Texas, ranch, Bush said Dec. 28 that he will ``reach out'' to lawmakers and speak with the Iraqi government about his plans. The president is under public pressure to alter the U.S. effort to stabilize and rebuild Iraq amid escalating violence.

Fifty-two percent of Americans questioned in a Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll in early December said the U.S. should withdraw its forces from Iraq on a fixed timetable, an idea Bush has dismissed. Only 12 percent of people in the poll supported sending more troops.

The idea of a withdrawal gained visibility this month with the backing of a bipartisan panel of statesmen known as the Iraq Study Group. In a Dec. 6 report, the panel recommended that most American combat forces be removed from Iraq by early 2008.

`Make Certain'

Bush ``really needs to make certain some of us have some idea what the plan is, as opposed to suddenly saying, `here is the plan, and, by golly, we're going to win,''' Lugar said.

``Even if there are people who differ, the hearings then in Foreign Relations become well-informed, sophisticated situations, rather than a lynching party,'' said Lugar, who is from Indiana.

Lugar said he has ``very limited confidence'' in Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ability to achieve national reconciliation. Lugar wouldn't say whether more U.S. troops should be sent to Iraq, an option Bush may choose.

A member of the Armed Services Committee, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, said he still supports a surge of American forces in Iraq, adding that now isn't the time for the U.S. to negotiate with Syria, a country where people ``who have blood on their hands'' are hostile to Americans.

Negotiating with Syria, which the Bush administration has accused of aiding the insurgency in Iraq, was another recommendation put forward by the Iraq Study Group.

``We have to talk to them at a time when it can benefit us, not them,'' Lieberman, an independent who has backed Bush on Iraq, said on CNN's ``Late Edition'' program.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nadine Elsibai in Washington at nelsibai@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 31, 2006 13:48 EST