WASHINGTON – Days from announcing an overhaul of Iraq strategy, President Bush on Friday encountered a wall of criticism of the U.S. troop escalation that is expected to be the centerpiece of his new war plan.
Several groups of lawmakers met with the president and his top advisers in the White House. Among them were moderate Democrats, loyalist Republicans and some of the president’s biggest critics, such as Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., was among 15 House members who spent an hour with Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace. There were Democrat and Republican lawmakers in the group.
Larsen said the president first shared his plan to reshuffle his war commanders. He also indicated he would likely lay out his new policy on Iraq in a national address next week.
Much of the hourlong discussion focused on the expected increase in U.S. forces, referred to as the “surge” option.
“The president told the group he is undecided on the surge option,” Larsen said. “My impression is the White House is leaning toward it.”
Larsen said he “certainly gave him my candid advice on the surge option. I suggested to the president that he faces a challenge of demonstrating to the American public that more troops equal a new approach.”
Powerful Republicans are skeptical of the proposal.
“It has to be significant and sustained. Otherwise, do not do it,” said Sen. John McCain, a Republican presidential hopeful and Vietnam veteran who has been advocating a troop increase.
Those for going in the opposite direction spoke out, too.
“We are well past the point of more troops for Iraq,” new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., wrote in a letter to Bush a day after their party took the reins on Capitol Hill. Instead, Pelosi and Reid urged Bush to begin pulling troops out in four to six months.
The criticism underscored that Bush, preparing his new policy for an increasingly unpopular and costly war, will face a Congress that is not only controlled by Democrats who could challenge him at any turn but also populated with Republicans looking toward the congressional and presidential elections of 2008.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said Bush’s meetings with lawmakers were more than just window dressing.
He said, “The fact is, these meetings may not be happy-face, kumbaya, but they have been very constructive.”
Bush, meanwhile, announced more changes in his team of military and diplomatic advisers.
He said Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander overseeing the theater that includes Iraq, will be succeeded by Adm. William Fallon, now Abizaid’s counterpart in the Pacific. Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus is the president’s choice to be the new chief commander in Iraq, replacing Gen. George Casey. The nominations must be approved by the Senate.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
