Lawmakers push Bush for Iraq exit strategy
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg The New York Times
FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2005
WASHINGTON A resolution calling on President George W. Bush to announce
an exit strategy from Iraq was introduced Thursday in the House of
Representatives by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
Two Republicans and two Democrats held a news conference in which they
prodded Bush to announce a withdrawal timetable by the end of the year. Their
resolution calls on him to start bringing American troops home by Oct. 1, 2006.
"Our troops have done everything we've asked of them," said one sponsor,
Representative Neil Abercrombie, Democrat of Hawaii. "It's time to get serious
about an exit strategy."
Representative Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican, who not many
months ago was so incensed by French opposition to the American-led military
campaign in Iraq that he wanted the House cafeterias to change the name "French
fries" to "freedom fries, " agreed.
"After 1,700 deaths, over 12,000 wounded and $200 billion spent, we
believe it is time to have this debate and discussion," he said. The other
sponsors are Representatives Ron Paul, Republican of Texas, and Dennis
Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio.
With U.S. opinion polls showing a drop in support for the war, and a
British memo asserting that the Bush administration had intended to go to war
as early as the summer of 2002, the words "exit strategy" are being uttered by
Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill.
The flurry began over the weekend, when Jones called for the Bush
administration to set specific goals for leaving Iraq. Senator Russell
Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, has introduced in the Senate a measure similar
to the nonbinding resolution that Jones and his House colleagues are offering.
In the House, the International Relations Committee last week voted, 32 to 9,
to call on the White House to develop and submit a plan to Congress for
establishing a stable government and military in Iraq that would "permit a
decreased U.S. presence" there.
Representative John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat, was convening a
forum Thursday on the so-called Downing Street Memo, a leaked document that
appeared to suggest that the White House had made a decision to go to war in
the summer of 2002. Next week, Representative Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois
Democrat, is planning to read on the House floor the names of the approximately
1,700 Americans who have died in the war.
Though most Republicans are steering clear of the exit strategy
discussion, a handful are joining in. Representative Howard Coble of North
Carolina, for instance, said Wednesday that he was considering it.
"I'm not suggesting pulling out tomorrow or next month," said Coble, who
favored going to war, "but I want that to be an option. I don't want us to
spend an eternity in Iraq. So conceptually, I'm inclined to embrace Walter
Jones's proposal."
Such comments by Republicans would have been heresy before last the
election in November, because no one in the party wanted to weaken Bush. But
now, with 2006 midterm elections approaching, members of Congress are hearing
from constituents who are growing uneasy about the war. So a nascent discussion
is emerging in Congress about America's involvement in Iraq and whether it is
time for re-evaluation.
"Certainly, people are breaking ranks, and saying, 'You know what, things
are not hunky-dory,"' said Representative Joseph Crowley, Democrat of New York,
who sponsored the measure that passed the International Relations Committee
last week. Much to Crowley's surprise, it drew support from the panel's
chairman, Representative Henry Hyde, Republican of Illinois, and 12 other
Republicans.
Many Republicans - and a number of Democrats, including Senator Harry
Reid of Nevada, the Senate Democratic leader - oppose setting a specific
timetable for troop withdrawal, saying that to do so would only embolden
insurgents.
The Pentagon reiterated that position Thursday. Lawrence DiRita, a
Defense Department spokesman, said that to set an "artificial deadline" in
Washington would be unwise, since "the situation in Iraq is developing along
based on events in Iraq."
But lawmakers are keeping an eye on the polls, which reflect growing
discontent with the war. A New York Times poll indicates that 37 percent of all
Americans approve of how Bush is dealing with Iraq, down from 45 percent in
February. In a recent Gallup poll, 6 in 10 Americans who responded said the
United States should withdraw all or some of its troops from Iraq. In another
poll, by ABC News and The Washington Post, two-thirds of those questioned said
the American military had gotten bogged down in Iraq.
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