Posted on Wed, Apr. 05, 2006
Debate in Congress over Iraq war grows louder
BY STEVEN THOMMA, TIM FUNK AND JAMES KUHNHENN
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - If Congress ever turns against the war in Iraq, analysts
may look back at this week as a turning point.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on Wednesday urged setting a May 15 deadline
to withdraw U.S. troops unless Iraq forms a unity government, and even
if Iraq does form a government, Kerry urged complete American withdrawal
by year's end. His twin-deadline proposal makes the 2004 presidential
nominee the most prominent Democrat pushing for early full withdrawal.
At the same time, three Republicans in the House of Representatives
endorsed a resolution calling for a robust and lengthy congressional
debate on Iraq. While they're far short of the votes needed to force
such a debate, a coalition of 40 anti-war activist groups is mounting a
national campaign to drum up public pressure behind the resolution. That
campaign targets lawmakers as they head home for a two-week Easter
recess to listen to constituents in this election year, when Republicans
are already anxious that they might lose control of Congress in November.
Grassroots America is sour on Iraq, polls show, and residents of 24
Wisconsin towns gave more proof of that this week by voting for
resolutions urging immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops, while voters in
eight towns rejected such a call.
None of these developments alone will shift policy. But taken together,
they suggest that anti-war politics could be intensifying - and that
Washington may be catching up with anti-war sentiment across the country.
"It's making Republicans in Congress more antsy," Republican strategist
Frank Luntz said, "and making Democrats bolder and more aggressive."
The majority of Americans turned against the war months ago. A recent
Gallup poll for CNN and USA Today shows that 19 percent want troops out
immediately and 35 percent want them out by the end of the year.
And Americans are growing pessimistic.
Slightly more than half of them, 51 percent, think the United States is
losing ground in its effort to defeat insurgents in Iraq, according to a
recent Pew Research Center survey. That's up from 38 percent in January.
And 70 percent think President Bush lacks a clear plan for victory.
Most leading Democrats have long worried that taking a stand against the
war or calling for early withdrawal would label them weak on national
security. But Kerry disdained such reservations when discussing his plan
in an interview Wednesday with Knight Ridder. He first disclosed his
proposal Wednesday in an opinion piece he wrote for The New York Times.
"One of the reasons I decided that the time had come to lay this out is
that you have to break this logjam," Kerry said in the interview. "There
is a reluctance by people here to push this envelope, and I think you
have to push it.
"No young American should be sacrificed because Iraqi politicians are
screwing around unwilling to compromise. So you have to get tough. You
have to give them a date. They have only responded to dates.
"The only way now to get this thing on track, in my judgment, is to be
tough and say, `Look, our young soldiers are not going to lose their
lives and our taxpayers aren't going to pour billions of dollars so you
guys can sit around every day and fight with each other.'"
Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., another potential 2008 presidential
candidate, also has proposed a Dec. 31 deadline for withdrawal, but he
lacks Kerry's stature as the party's most recent presidential nominee.
In the House, Republican Reps. Walter Jones of North Carolina, Ron Paul
of Texas and Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland announced their support for a
Democratic resolution that would force an immediate, 17-hour-long House
debate on the war aimed at requiring a plan to get troops out.
"There are those of us in both parties who want to meet our
constitutional responsibility, and that is to discuss and debate the
present and the future of our commitment in Iraq," Jones said.
"Nobody, including us, is for pulling out. We're asking for a transition
plan for when the Iraqis can take over the responsibility. We're not
hearing that plan. We're hearing that, well, maybe the next president
can deal with it," Jones said, referring to a Bush comment last month.
"That's not satisfactory."
Said Gilchrest: "The public is clearly concerned, and there's palpable
apprehension every day about the war in Iraq. And we have to dig deeper
than just saying we supported the troops."
House Republican leaders have blocked consideration of the resolution,
introduced by Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii. He said he had about 80
signatures on a petition to force a House debate, but was still far
short of the 218 needed.
A coalition of liberal groups called Win Without War said Wednesday that
it had begun radio and newspaper ads in Minnesota and Ohio supporting
the resolution and its activists would work nationwide to pressure
lawmakers on it over the next two weeks. The coalition includes
MoveOn.org, the National Council of Churches, the NAACP and the National
Organization for Women.
"This is the heartland. We want to challenge our lawmakers. We're
targeting members of Congress who are not on record in support of this.
We want to build on this," said Tom Andrews, the national director of
the coalition and a former Democratic congressman from Maine.
The CNN/USATODAY/Gallup poll of 1,001 adults was conducted March 10-12
and had an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The Pew
Research Center survey of 1,405 adults was conducted March 8-12 and had
an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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