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 News from Around the Americas | July 2007 
Pelosi Lines Up Iraq Votes
 Mike Soraghan & Jackie Kucinich - The Hill
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| | Iraqi police cadets train at a military base in Hilla. The White House has hit back in a bid to stem a growing Republican revolt over Iraq strategy, as Democrats drove home a searing attack on President George W. Bush over the war. (AFP/Mohammed Sawaf) |
House Democrats are planning a series of votes this month on Iraq that they hope will ratchet up pressure on the White House and congressional Republicans to change course on the unpopular war or suffer political consequences.
Sensing that additional GOP members might follow the more skeptical path taken recently by Sens. Richard Lugar (Ind.) and Pete Domenici (N.M.) and Rep. John Doolittle (Calif.), Democratic leaders have decided to ignore White House requests that lawmakers wait until September to see how President Bush's surge works.
"I think you're seeing signs that the dam's about to bust," said Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), tapped as leadership's coordinator for Iraq strategy. "Someone on the Republican side has to be like Fulbright during the Vietnam War."
Sen. William Fulbright's criticism helped turn public opinion against the Vietnam War in part because it came from President Lyndon Johnson's own party.
The first votes in what Pelosi's office termed "a month of action in Congress to end the war" could start as early as this week. Likely topics include legislation banning permanent bases in Iraq and cracking down on what Democrats call "war profiteering." In addition, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) last month announced withdrawal legislation to "redeploy" troops by next spring.
The House will then take up the defense appropriations bill at the end of July, which could spark a flurry of additional Iraq votes right before lawmakers head home for the long August break.
The strategy comes after an unsuccessful June for Democrats. Efforts to dislodge the Democratic domestic agenda became mired in a debate over earmarks and stalled by procedural tactics in the Senate. Aside from the most conservative Democrats, most blamed Congress's low poll numbers on a lack of movement on Iraq.
Then members went home for the Independence Day break and got an earful about the war.
"Everyone is taking note of the Republicans that have begun peeling off" from Bush, Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) said yesterday. "They are hopeful that we are going to get out quickly."
Democrats are also regularly under fire from liberal activists, as demonstrated by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan's threat to run against Pelosi. Sheehan said she will challenge Pelosi in her district as an independent if the House Speaker does not file articles of impeachment against Bush by July 23. That's when Sheehan and a caravan of supporters will arrive in Washington from a protest ride starting near Bush's Texas ranch.
For their part, Republican leaders indicated they will fight the Democratic strategy by questioning the majority party's national security credentials.
"Democrats can't claim to be strong on national security and repeatedly advocate retreat in the fight against terrorists at the same time," said Brian Kennedy, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). "General Petraeus just received the full reinforcements he was promised, and to condemn his plan to failure before it has ample time to succeed is not in the best interests of our troops or the security of our country."
But Pelosi counters that many Republicans, not just Democrats, are demanding a change in course sooner than Petraeus or Bush.
"Republicans are breaking ranks with the president and many have said we need a new strategy starting in July, not September," said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami. The timeline legislation Pelosi announced before the Independence Day break has not been introduced, but it closely tracks the proposal by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) that the withdrawal begin within 120 days, with most troops ordered out by next spring. The idea is to present the House and the Senate as unified.
Larson said Democrats have 37 Democratic-sponsored Iraq bills to choose from to create what he calls "a steady drumbeat" of votes voicing disapproval of Bush's handling of the war.
A Democratic aide said the first out of the chute could be legislation by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) precluding permanent bases in Iraq.
"The perception that the United States plans a permanent military presence in Iraq fuels the violence against our troops and strengthens the insurgency," Lee said.
Democratic leaders met on Thursday before the recess and will meet again later tonight to discuss which votes to press and when to press them. One early question is whether to have a vote this week.
Next Sunday, the military will give its preliminary assessment of the surge - the first "benchmark" laid out in the Iraq supplemental appropriations bill signed by the president earlier this year.
Petraeus was quoted in media reports saying that the spike in violence in Iraq in the past few days represented an attempt by Sunni insurgents to influence perceptions of that report and compared it to the Tet offensive that undermined support for the Vietnam War.
"We expect they will try this - pull off a variety of sensational attacks and grab the headlines to create a 'mini-Tet,'" said Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
Altmire said many of the constituents he spoke to during the Independence Day break were focused on the upcoming report and the full report due in September. Altmire and others said that Iraq was a frequent topic as members mingled at parades and barbecues during the break.
"Regardless of the volume of responses, concern about Iraq and immigration tend to evoke strong feelings," said Brian Herman, a spokesman for Rep. Melissa Bean (D-Ill.).
Altmire indicated that the wite-hot anger over immigration had cooled in his district. But it has not in the district of Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.).
"Conversations were overwhelming about immigration," a Porter spokesman said. "There was disappointment that the Senate could not pass a bill, but the district remains anti-amnesty."
The same was true for Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). In the six parades he attended on July 4 and in individual meetings, he found that the only topic that could compare with immigration in intensity was a spat between statehouse Democrats.
"There was an overwhelming desire throughout the district to secure our borders before any immigration reform proposals move forward," Kirk said. |
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