WASHINGTON – Democratic congressional leaders vowed Sunday to use their powers of spending and policy oversight to challenge President Bush’s expected proposal this week, as part of a broad revision of Iraq strategy, for boosting U.S. military forces in the country by as many as 20,000 troops.
Bush is expected to announce his revised war strategy perhaps as early as Wednesday.
As of Saturday, the president had not settled on a precise plan for adding to the 132,000 U.S. troops already in Iraq, officials said. Senior military and administration officials privately admit their deep concerns that the troop increase will backfire – and leave the United States with no options in six to eight months.
The U.S. military has repeatedly carried out temporary troop surges in Iraq of more than 20,000, but violence has continued to rise. The main difference under the new plan is that additional troops would be concentrated in the Baghdad vicinity, where there are currently seven U.S. brigades, and the increase could last longer, from six to 12 months, Pentagon officials said.
Calling Iraq a nation in “complete chaos,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democrats cast the anticipated Bush plan as an escalation of the Iraq war and said they would treat the plan – and new funding requests – with strong skepticism.
“If the president wants to add to this mission, he’s going to have to justify it,” Pelosi said on the CBS News show “Face the Nation,” emphasizing that while Congress will not cut off funding for troops now in Iraq, the White House will no longer have a “blank check” for expanding the war effort.
“When the bill comes … it will receive the harshest scrutiny,” she said.
But while leading Democrats reaffirmed their opposition to a troop buildup, several did not join Pelosi in suggesting it was possible Congress could deny Bush the money for the additional forces.
“I don’t want to anticipate that,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.
Sen. Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a 2008 presidential candidate, said increasing troops would be a “tragic mistake.” But he contended Congress was constitutionally powerless to second-guess Bush’s military strategy.
“As a practical matter, there’s no way to say, ‘Mr. President, stop,’” Biden said, unless enough congressional Republicans join Democrats in persuading Bush that the strategy is wrong. “You can’t go in and, like a tinker toy, and play around and say, ‘You can’t spend the money on this piece and this piece.’”
Republican lawmakers voiced general support Sunday for the Bush plan as outlined, although they acknowledged it will be controversial and unpopular.
“At the end of the day … I don’t think Congress will cut off money for the troops, “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Congress is incapable of micromanaging the tactics in the war. And even though this will be a controversial step, I think the president will be able to carry it out, and I hope he’ll be successful.”
Iraq developments
Developments in Iraq reported Sunday:
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