[NYTr] Bush Faces Political Clash Over War Plan

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP - Sep 5, 2007

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ?SITE=JRC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Bush Faces Political Clash Over War Plan

By ANNE FLAHERTY
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- April may become the new September when it comes to
deciding whether to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq, if President
Bush's senior advisers have their way. But Congress might not stand for
it.

Since Bush ordered the deployment of some 30,000 additional U.S. troops
to Iraq in January, he urged Congress to give the new plan until at
least September to work. Accordingly, this month became a deadline
among lawmakers for substantial progress, including several Republicans
who said they were wary of Bush's military strategy but agreed for the
most part to bite their tongues until then.

Now, administration officials are recommending Bush stand by his war
strategy until the spring, and Bush is considered unlikely to order
more than a symbolic cut in troops before the end of the year.
Officials familiar with the assessment spoke on condition of anonymity
to describe decisions not yet publicly released.

The suggestion is a bold one, considering Republicans lost control of
Congress last year because of voter dissatisfaction on the war and
polls show Americans overwhelmingly oppose the war.

Also, in recent months, GOP support for the war deteriorated with the
latest challenge coming from Sen. Norm Coleman. Coleman, R-Minn., said
pulling out a small number of troops by the end of the year would prove
to Iraqi leaders that U.S. aid was not a blank check.

"I've been searching - is there another way to kind of hammer the
point? I think the message has to be sent," he told reporters Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday during a trip to Australia, Bush
restated his view that decisions about troop levels should be based on
recommendations from military commanders. He noted that Gen. David
Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker
would be delivering progress reports soon enough.

"Whether or not that's part of the policy I announce to the nation ...
why don't we see what they say and then I'll let you know," Bush said.

Republican support likely will hinge on Petraeus' testimony next week.
If he can convince lawmakers that the security gains won in recent
months are substantial and point toward a bigger trend - and a promise
of major troop reductions soon - GOP members might be willing to hold
out until spring.

They also might be persuaded to wait until April if Bush agrees to a
small, symbolic drawdown of troops by the end of the year, as is
suggested to the White House by Coleman and Sen. John Warner, an
influential Republican on security matters.

But that would be the best case scenario for Bush in a Congress already
gearing up for the 2008 election season. For their part, Democrats will
use the unpopularity of the war against Republican candidates,
including in the presidential election. Support for cutting off money
for the war also is likely to grow, if Bush insists on keeping troops
in Iraq at heightened levels through spring.

"It's time to begin to bring our troops home so that we can relieve a
strain on our military that endangers our national security," said Sen.
Barack Obama, D-Ill., a top contender for the Democratic presidential
nomination. "It's time to end a war that should never have been
authorized."

After a month at home with constituents, nearly a dozen members of the
House issued a call Tuesday for bipartisan cooperation in Congress to
stabilize Iraq and "bring our troops home" after more than four years
of war.

The letter, signed by six Republicans and five Democrats, many of them
political moderates, contained no specific timeline for withdrawing
U.S. forces and took no position on earlier calls to limit future funds
for the war.

Instead, it urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority
Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, to "work together to put an end to the
political infighting" that has marked congressional debate on the
conflict thus far.

In a report released Tuesday, the Government Accountability Office
found that Iraq had met only three of its 18 political and security
goals, partially met four and failed to meet 11 of its benchmarks.

In his Senate testimony, Comptroller General David Walker said the
Congress should ask itself what it wants to achieve in Iraq and can do
so realistically. After determining the goal, the U.S. could better
reassess what the goal should be of U.S. forces, he said.

Walker also challenged a key assertion by the administration in the
war, that improved security made in the Sunni-dominated Anbar province
was indicative of overall progress in Iraq. Walker warned that the
success in Anbar may be isolated.

"It's not Baghdad," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "I
mean, Baghdad is a separate province unto itself and that's the
particularly acute situation right now."

© 2007 The Associated Press.