WASHINGTON - Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., pledged Thursday to vote for a Democratic resolution opposing President Bush's Iraq troop buildup, saying "it is part of what I believe we must do to support our soldiers over there."

The U.S. House has spent most of the week debating the war in Iraq, and all 435 members of the chamber have been given five minutes to speak their thoughts on President Bush's plan to send an additional 20,000 troops to the war zone. A vote on the resolution is expected by the end of the week.

"In a war where so many tragic mistakes have been made, this Congress must not sit quietly by while additional plans are cooked up in Washington whose only certainty is to accelerate the loss of American lives, compound the already severe strain on our military capacity and accelerate the burn rate of taxpayer dollars on this endeavor," Pomeroy said in his short floor speech.

He called the debate "a very important opening statement for this Congress to make on Iraq."

Pomeroy voted in 2002 to authorize force in Iraq. But he has increasingly spoken out against the war.

He said in his floor speech that he had an experience he would never forget this week, when he attended the Arlington Cemetery funeral of Maj. Alan Johnson, a North Dakota native. Johnson, who grew up on Montpelier, in south-central North Dakota, died in Iraq on Jan. 26 when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee.

Pomeroy said the major's grieving widow stared into his eyes and asked him to do what he could for the soldiers fighting there.

"This is not just the plea and the prayer of the families of our soldiers. It is the demand of the American people," he said.

The country can take care of soldiers by providing needed equipment for them, making sure deployments are acceptable lengths and making sure their mission "has a reasonable chance of success," Pomeroy said.

Pomeroy, who has been to Iraq four times, said the additional troops "are not likely to bring about a lasting peace" unless warring parties in Iraq can reconcile.