A senior Republican’s sharp criticism of President Bush’s handling of the Iraq war has emboldened anti-war activists, who are planning to ratchet up pressure on the Senate to take a more hard-line approach during the debate next month over defense authorization legislation.
Six-term Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), the ranking member and former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a floor speech Monday night that the troop surge Bush announced in January has not shown signs of success, and that the White House should immediately begin a process to withdraw troops from Iraq.
“In my judgment, our course in Iraq has lost contact with our vital national security interests in the Middle East and beyond,” Lugar said on the floor.
Lugar’s position feeds into a new campaign that anti-war activists formulated at a meeting in Chicago over the weekend.
The anti-war coalition United for Peace and Justice, which represents 1,400 groups nationwide, agreed that pressuring the Democratic-controlled Congress to be more assertive against Bush’s war policy would be its top priority this summer.
The Senate is expected to push back debate over the war until after the Fourth of July recess — another development that has incensed anti-war activists, who argue that Congress has been slow to challenge Bush on the Iraq war. But during the recess week, activists say, they will be highlighting Lugar’s position to organize protests at offices of lawmakers who may be swayed.
According to attendees of the Chicago meeting, some groups wanted to push Congress to cut off funds immediately, but other activists said that doing so would allow critics to portray that effort as leaving vulnerable troops in harm’s way.
Some leading groups are eyeing the defense authorization bill for the Senate to add language calling for a full withdrawal by year’s end, and are content with funding up to $10 billion.
Lugar’s Monday night speech gave hope that efforts to attach withdrawal provisions to the $649 billion fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill would gain steam among Senate Republicans.
“Our strategy for this summer is to take advantage of reality on the ground in Iraq,” said Gael Murphy, co-founder of the anti-war group Code Pink. “And Lugar’s statement is extremely helpful towards that direction.”
“It marks the beginning of the end of the Republican stonewalling on Iraq,” said Nita Chaudhary, a campaigner for the liberal group MoveOn.org.
Lugar said yesterday that his Senate Republican colleagues, “by and large,” have been “generally supportive and very pleased that I gave the speech and [are] eager to talk some more about it.”
Publicly, Republicans were mixed about Lugar’s statement. Most said they would wait until Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, reports to Congress in September. But Lugar said Washington should not wait until September’s report, which he said would likely show little success. An interim report is due July 15.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a supporter of the troop surge and the war, said he would wait until the September report to reassess the Iraq situation. But he added that when Lugar speaks, “everybody tends to listen.”
White House spokesman Tony Snow said the administration takes “seriously his point of view because he is a serious guy,” but argued that Lugar’s announcement was not surprising. “He’s somebody who has had reservations.”
Lugar said the White House contacted him afterward to hold a meeting on the issue, but would not say how or whether he plans to address the war through the legislative process.
“I think we could have some legislative responses, but I’m not prepared to draft them or suggest them off my head today,” Lugar said. “But others are interested in working with me.”
Indeed, Lugar’s speech does not necessarily translate into a newly reliable vote for Democrats seeking to end the war in Iraq.
The senator said yesterday that he has not embraced any of the pending bills to require a timetable for withdrawal, and that he has not made any plans on how he would vote when expected amendments to end the war are offered during debate over the defense authorization bill.
Still, Democrats and their anti-war allies saw Lugar’s speech as a turning point in the Senate’s debate over the war.
“He’s obviously a strong voice, and when his voice supports a change in direction, it could have a very significant impact,” said Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.). “Whether that translates into votes on particular matters, either his vote or others, is obviously an important question, too.”
There are at least four Iraq-related Democratic amendments that could be offered on Iraq, including one by Levin mandating a troop withdrawal from Iraq within 120 days of his plan’s enactment. Other amendments would set troop readiness standards; seek to prohibit spending on a future military presence in Iraq after April 2008; and revoke the 2002
congressional authorization for the war.
Some Republicans are starting to talk about their strategy for the defense bill, including Sen. John Warner, the senior Republican from Virginia, who has been increasingly critical of the war. Warner said he would withhold “thoughts of his own” until debate over the defense authorization bill had concluded.
“I anticipate as the authorization bill comes to the floor next week that I, Senator Levin, Senator [John] McCain (R-Ariz.) and others will be engaged in a very thorough dialogue on the basic tenets raised by Senator Lugar,” said Warner. He added that this authorization bill would be the most challenging of the 29 he has worked on throughout his career.
Elana Schor contributed to this story. |
