Senate seeks to put imprint on Iraq policy

Some GOP lawmakers are among those trying to force the White House to shift its war strategy.

from the July 11, 2007 edition

Page 3 of 3

Page 1 | Page 2 | 3

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R) of Tennessee is cosponsoring a measure with Sen. Ken Salazar (D) of Colorado that would make the 79 recommendations of the Iraq Study Group the policy of the US government, including a March 2008 goal for the drawdown of troops.

"We're going to do whatever has the best chance of creating a bipartisan consensus on what we need to do to go forward in Iraq," he says. "At some point, we're going to have to stop shouting at each other and see what we agree on."

Sens. Warner and Ben Nelson (D) of Nebraska are working with a bipartisan group of senators on another amendment but will not release their proposal until after the president's interim report on Iraq, due July 15. "I want to look at redeployment as opposed to setting dates for withdrawal. I want to focus on what the enemy is and the enemy is Al Qaeda," Senator Nelson says.

At the same time, Republicans supporting the war are working behind the scenes to rally their colleagues against what they call a precipitous withdrawal. "That would be a disaster," said Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona, in his first floor speech since a trip to Iraq last week.

"I sense some political panicking and some genuine frustration with policy, but I believe there will be more than 40 votes to make sure we do not pass amendments that would undermine the troops in the field and cut short the surge," says Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina, who also just returned from Iraq.

In Cleveland on Tuesday, President Bush called the US troop deployment in Iraq "necessary to the security of the United States and the peace of the world."

Mr. Bush urged Congress to give Gen. David Petraeus a chance to report to lawmakers in September on whether his strategies are working.

"I welcome a good honest debate about the consequences of failure and the consequences of success in this war, but I believe that it's in the nation's interest to give the commander authority to fully implement his strategy," Bush said.

1 | 2 | Page 3