Debate in Congress Over Iraq War Grows Louder
    By Steven Thomma, Tim Funki and James Juhnhenn
    Knight Ridder Newspapers

    Wednesday 05 April 2006

    Washington - If Congress ever turns against the war in Iraq, analysts 0amay look 0aback at this week as a turning point.

    Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., on Wednesday urged setting a May 15 deadline 0ato withdraw 0aU.S. troops unless Iraq forms a unity government, and even if Iraq does form 0aa government, Kerry urged complete American withdrawal by year's end. His twin-deadline 0aproposal makes the 2004 presidential nominee the most prominent Democrat pushing 0afor early full withdrawal.

    At the same time, three Republicans in the House of Representatives endorsed 0aa resolution calling for a robust and lengthy congressional debate on Iraq. 0aWhile they're far short of the votes needed to force such a debate, a coalition 0aof 40 anti-war activist groups is mounting a national campaign to drum up public 0apressure behind the resolution. That campaign targets lawmakers as they head 0ahome for a two-week Easter recess to listen to constituents in this election 0ayear, when Republicans are already anxious that they might lose control of Congress 0ain November.

    Grassroots America is sour on Iraq, polls show, and residents of 24 Wisconsin 0atowns gave more proof of that this week by voting for resolutions urging immediate 0awithdrawal of U.S. troops, while voters in eight towns rejected such a call.

    None of these developments alone will shift policy. But taken together, 0athey 0asuggest that anti-war politics could be intensifying - and that Washington may 0abe catching up with anti-war sentiment across the country.

    "It's making Republicans in Congress more antsy," Republican 0astrategist 0aFrank Luntz said, "and making Democrats bolder and more aggressive."

    The majority of Americans turned against the war months ago. A recent 0aGallup 0apoll for CNN and USA Today shows that 19 percent want troops out immediately 0aand 35 percent want them out by the end of the year.

    And Americans are growing pessimistic.

    Slightly more than half of them, 51 percent, think the United States 0ais losing 0aground in its effort to defeat insurgents in Iraq, according to a recent Pew 0aResearch Center survey. That's up from 38 percent in January. And 70 percent 0athink President Bush lacks a clear plan for victory.

    Most leading Democrats have long worried that taking a stand against 0athe war 0aor calling for early withdrawal would label them weak on national security. 0aBut Kerry disdained such reservations when discussing his plan in an interview 0aWednesday with Knight Ridder. He first disclosed his proposal Wednesday in an 0aopinion piece he wrote for The New York Times.

    "One of the reasons I decided that the time had come to lay 0athis out is 0athat you have to break this logjam," Kerry said in the interview. "There 0ais a reluctance by people here to push this envelope, and I think you have to 0apush it.

    "No young American should be sacrificed because Iraqi politicians 0aare 0ascrewing around unwilling to compromise. So you have to get tough. You have 0ato give them a date. They have only responded to dates.

    "The only way now to get this thing on track, in my judgment, 0ais to be 0atough and say, `Look, our young soldiers are not going to lose their lives and 0aour taxpayers aren't going to pour billions of dollars so you guys can sit around 0aevery day and fight with each other.'"

    Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., another potential 2008 presidential candidate, 0aalso has proposed a Dec. 31 deadline for withdrawal, but he lacks Kerry's stature 0aas the party's most recent presidential nominee.

    In the House, Republican Reps. Walter Jones of North Carolina, Ron Paul 0aof 0aTexas and Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland announced their support for a Democratic 0aresolution that would force an immediate, 17-hour-long House debate on the war 0aaimed at requiring a plan to get troops out.

    "There are those of us in both parties who want to meet our 0aconstitutional 0aresponsibility, and that is to discuss and debate the present and the future 0aof our commitment in Iraq," Jones said.

    "Nobody, including us, is for pulling out. We're asking for 0aa transition 0aplan for when the Iraqis can take over the responsibility. We're not hearing 0athat plan. We're hearing that, well, maybe the next president can deal with 0ait," Jones said, referring to a Bush comment last month. "That's 0anot 0asatisfactory."

    Said Gilchrest: "The public is clearly concerned, and there's 0apalpable 0aapprehension every day about the war in Iraq. And we have to dig deeper than 0ajust saying we supported the troops."

    House Republican leaders have blocked consideration of the resolution, 0aintroduced 0aby Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii. He said he had about 80 signatures on a 0apetition to force a House debate, but was still far short of the 218 needed.

    A coalition of liberal groups called Win Without War said Wednesday that 0ait 0ahad begun radio and newspaper ads in Minnesota and Ohio supporting the resolution 0aand its activists would work nationwide to pressure lawmakers on it over the 0anext two weeks. The coalition includes MoveOn.org, the National Council of Churches, 0athe NAACP and the National Organization for Women.

    "This is the heartland. We want to challenge our lawmakers. 0aWe're targeting 0amembers of Congress who are not on record in support of this. We want to build 0aon this," said Tom Andrews, the national director of the coalition and 0aa former Democratic congressman from Maine.

    The CNN/USATODAY/Gallup poll of 1,001 adults was conducted March 10-12 0aand 0ahad an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The Pew Research Center 0asurvey of 1,405 adults was conducted March 8-12 and had an error margin of plus 0aor minus 3 percentage points.