WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush will defend his decision to send 21,500 more U.S. troops to Iraq in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, arguing that a failure there would be "grievous and far reaching."

In speech excerpts released by the White House ahead of his remarks to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, Bush said he and his military commanders carefully weighed the options and that he chose the troop increase "because it provides the best chance of success."

"Many in this chamber understand that America must not fail in Iraq -- because you understand that the consequences in failure would be grievous and far reaching," Bush said.

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