Senate Urges Bush to Report Progress on
Ending War
Bloomberg
Jeff St.Onge
November 15, 2005
Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The Senate today called on President George W. Bush
to explain his strategy for ending the war in Iraq and report every three
months on progress until all U.S. troops stationed there are redeployed.
The measure, passed 79-19, is one of several attached to a major defense
bill that reflect unease within the president's own party as polls show
increasing public impatience with the conflict and Democrats step up
criticism.
The measure calls on the administration to make 2006 a year of significant
political and military transition in Iraq that will allow a phased reduction of
U.S. forces.
The Senate "needs to send the strongest possible message to the Iraqi people
and the government formed there" that "we mean business, we have done our
share, now the challenge is up to you," John Warner of Virginia, chairman of
the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.
The amendment was to the defense authorization bill that the chamber later
passed 98-0. The bill sets military policy and became a vehicle for lawmakers
to weigh in on Bush's handling of the Iraq conflict.
One provision would set legal rights and procedures for suspected terrorists
held at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Others bar abuse of enemy
combatants in U.S. custody and seek details on any secret U.S. prisons
overseas.
The provision aimed at withdrawing American troops, who now number 160,000
in the Mideast nation, urges but does not require Bush to report progress. It
was sponsored by Warner and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee.
Democrats Wanted Timetable
None of these measures are in the House version of the defense authorization
bill, which means they'll be the subject of negotiation when the two chambers
hammer out compromise legislation.
Passage of the withdrawal provision followed the defeat of a nearly
identical measure pushed by Democrats and introduced by Minority Leader Harry
Reid of Nevada and Carl Levin of Michigan, ranking Democrat on the armed
services panel. The main difference is that Democrats wanted Bush to set a
timetable for withdrawal, a notion he's flatly resisted.
Frist dubbed that a "cut-and-run strategy" that would play "right into the
hands" of terrorists who would wait to attack until after U.S. forces departed.
Warner said the provision "sends the wrong message" and would "completely
destabilize" the national elections Iraq plans Dec. 15.
The Republican amendment requires a White House report within three months
of the bill's passage and every three months thereafter outlining the current
military situation, the status of Iraqi troop training and status of efforts to
forge a compromise among Iraq's rival political factions.
`Clarify, Recommend Changes'
Twenty-five of the Senate's 44 Democrats, including both Reid and Levin,
voted with Republicans. "Both amendments propose to clarify and recommend
changes to United States policy in Iraq," Levin said.
Reid said Democrats "forced the Republicans to admit that staying the course
in Iraq is not an option." The measure is "a vote of no confidence in the Bush
administration's policy in Iraq," he said. Warner told reporters that Reid's
comments didn't merit a response.
Bush's approval rating is at a record low in recent polls. A survey released
yesterday by CNN, USA Today and the Gallup Organization showed 37 percent
approve of the job he's doing and 60 percent disapprove. A Newsweek magazine
poll released Nov. 12 found an approval rating of 36 percent and a disapproval
rate of 58 percent.
The war in Iraq is a main factor driving down the president's ratings,
according to Gallup poll data. The poll conducted Nov. 11-13 found 54 percent
of the public thinks sending troops to Iraq was a mistake.
Guantanamo Detainees
The overall bill the Senate passed today authorizes $491 billion for
military spending in fiscal 2006, including $50 billion for the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
One controversial amendment, a compromise measure sponsored by Republican
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Democrat Levin, would give detainees at
Guantanamo the right to appeal the verdicts of military tribunals in U.S.
appeals courts.
The measure would formalize a military-based system of hearings and trials
the administration set up to deal with suspected foreign terrorists held at the
U.S. Navy prison at Guantanamo Bay, most of them captured almost four years ago
in the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Supreme Court last week said it will decide whether such military
panels can be used to try the roughly 500 terrorism suspects held at
Guantanamo. The justices will hear augments and rule by July.
`Affront to Judiciary'
Republican Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania called the amendment "an affront to
the Judiciary Committee" that he heads. The measure "hasn't been the subject of
any hearings" and is "blatant court-stripping in the most confusing way,"
Specter said.
The authorization bill also has a provision sponsored by Republican John
McCain of Arizona that aims to ensure U.S. interrogation techniques don't
violate the Geneva Convention.
McCain's amendment is also on the defense appropriations bill that the
Senate passed Oct. 7. It's not on the House version of the bill that passed in
July and the two chambers still haven't met to seek compromise legislation.
Bush threatened to veto the entire defense appropriations bill over McCain's
amendment. Later, the White House offered to go along if Central Intelligence
Agency agents working overseas were exempt from any restrictions.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jeff St.Onge in Washington at jstonge@bloomberg.net.
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