U.S. Senate seeks speedier handover in Iraq
(Incorporates SECURITY-CONGRESS, adds details, Rumsfeld comments)
By Vicki Allen
WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Showing mounting discontent among Republicans over progress in the Iraq war, the U.S. Senate resolved on Tuesday that Iraqis should start taking the lead in their own security next year to allow a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops.
But the Republican-led Senate rejected Democrats' demand for Republican President George W. Bush to submit a plan and an estimated timetable to withdraw U.S. forces, a step Bush has vehemently opposed.
The Senate's vote on the Iraq resolution came days after Bush, facing waning public support for the war and the lowest job approval ratings of his presidency, launched an aggressive counteroffensive against Democratic critics who say the administration hyped prewar intelligence on Iraq to justify the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.
The Senate demand, and with it the stirrings of Republican revolt, was another blow to Bush, who is reeling over a string of setbacks including his administration's response to Hurricane Katrina, controversy over Supreme Court nominees and high gas prices.
The Senate voted 79-19 for a resolution saying 2006 "should be a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty, with Iraqi security forces taking the lead for the security of a free and sovereign Iraq, thereby creating the conditions for the phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq."
The Republican resolution, sponsored by Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner of Virginia, largely mirrored a Democratic resolution, except for Democrats' key requirement for a withdrawal plan.
Senators defeated the Democrats' resolution 58-40 before backing the other.
Delaware Democrat Joseph Biden said the vote marked "the first time our Republican colleagues have joined Democrats in insisting on a clear Iraq strategy from this administration."
Warner said the Senate resolution was to declare to Iraqis, "We mean business, we have done our share, now the challenge is up to you."
DEFENDING 'THE MISSION'
In remarks on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stuck to the administration line on troop withdrawal. Bush has argued that setting a timetable would send a green light to insurgents.
"While the American people understandably want to know when our forces can leave Iraq, I believe they do not want to leave until the mission is complete," Rumsfeld said.
The Senate resolution was attached to a bill authorizing $491.6 billion in defense programs. Its purpose is "to clarify and recommend changes" in U.S. policy in Iraq, and it requires progress reports to Congress every 90 days.
Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois called the resolution a rejection of "the president's call for blind loyalty to his policies in Iraq."
Bush has twice in recent days ripped into Democrats who have accused the Republican president and other top administration officials of manipulating prewar intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were found.
Echoing Bush's stance that the administration was not alone in believing Iraq posed a threat, Rumsfeld quoted former President Bill Clinton and senior Clinton administration officials as warning in 1998 that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein planned to use weapons of mass destruction.
Democrats have responded to the counterattack by denying they saw the same intelligence as the administration before the war. They have accused the administration of trying to convince the U.S. public there was a link between Saddam and al Qaeda even though the intelligence community rejected that idea.
The Iraq war brought hecklers to a speech in Knoxville, Tennessee, by Vice President Dick Cheney. He did not acknowledge their shouts.
(Additional reporting by Charles Aldinger) |
