2 GOP senators press Bush for Iraq backup plan

2 GOP senators press Bush for Iraq backup plan
By Aamer Madhani and Mark Silva
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published July 14, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Two senior Senate Republicans on Friday introduced legislation that calls for President Bush to devise a contingency plan to scale down U.S. military involvement in Iraq by the end of the year.

The legislation, drafted by Sens. John Warner (R-Va.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), two longtime foreign affairs experts who have grown disillusioned with the war, perhaps marks the most significant challenge yet of Bush's war policy from within his own party.

Both men have been frustrated with progress on the ground in Iraq and expressed wariness over the president's decision earlier this year to send nearly 30,000 more U.S. troops into combat to help Iraq find a semblance of normality. At the same time, both senators refrained from joining Democratic leaders pushing to stop the war.

Their measure, which is expected to be considered next week when the Iraq war debate resumes, calls for Bush to draft a plan that would keep U.S. forces from "policing the civil strife or sectarian violence in Iraq." It also calls for Bush to "redeploy or reallocate those forces in a responsible manner as conditions permit."

Bush would be required to submit the plan to Congress by Oct. 16, and the legislation requests that the president propose a renewal of Congress' 2002 authorization of the use of force in Iraq.

"The [troop] surge must not be an excuse for failing to prepare for the next phase of our involvement in Iraq, whether that is withdrawal, redeployment or some other option," Lugar said in a statement. "We saw in 2003 after the initial invasion of Iraq, the disastrous results of failing to plan adequately for contingencies."

In response to the Warner-Lugar legislation, the administration reiterated its call to Congress to show patience. Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are scheduled to give Congress an update on how the so-called troop surge is working by Sept. 15, and the administration has argued that Democrats should wait until then before cementing their judgments.

"We respect Sens. Warner and Lugar and will review carefully the language they have proposed," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, "but we believe the new way-forward strategy -- which became fully operational less than a month ago -- deserves the time to succeed. We look forward to hearing from Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker in September."

Democratic support unclear

The senators' proposal was introduced a day after the administration released a sobering interim report on the troop buildup that indicated uneven progress has been made in Iraq since Bush ordered the additional troops more than six months ago. The report indicated that the Iraqis had made satisfactory progress on only eight of 18 benchmarks on political, security and economic goals set by Congress.

It is unclear how much bipartisan support the Warner-Lugar proposal will receive as Democratic leaders have been pushing for stronger legislation. Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) have sponsored a measure that calls for a drawdown of U.S. forces to start within 120 days and be completed April 30. A similar measure passed in the House, almost entirely along party lines, earlier this week.

The Democrats, however, are well short of the votes they would need to overcome a certain veto by the president.

Realistically, withdrawing completely or even significantly reducing the number of U.S. combat troops in Iraq could take much longer. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters Friday that reducing U.S. forces "postsurge" would be a complicated task.

"When we pulled out of Kuwait in 1991, '92, it took about a year to get out of there, in a completely permissive environment, where we had some of the best ports and some of the best airports in the world to help us with the logistics," Gates said. "You're talking about not just U.S. soldiers but millions of tons of contractor equipment that belongs to the United States government and a variety of other things. This is a massive logistical undertaking whenever it takes place."

Rating Iraqi forces

The assessment released Thursday acknowledged that Iraqi security forces haven't made the necessary strides toward operating independently of U.S. forces -- a notion that was bolstered by news from the Pentagon on Friday that fewer Iraqi army troops are currently operating on their own than just a few months ago.

Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the number of Iraqi army battalions operating independently of U.S. forces is down to six from 10 in March. Pace said the apparent reduction in the Iraqi army's readiness is the result of Iraqis engaging at a higher combat tempo.

"As units operate in the field, they have casualties, they consume vehicles and equipment," Pace said.

Still, top administration officials continued to downplay the bleak analysis that came from the interim report card and question whether the benchmarks properly measure the progress being made.

"But we shouldn't just dismiss as inconsequential the progress that they have made," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in an appearance on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" show.

Another senior administration official said Friday that he believes Bush hopes U.S. involvement in Iraq will continue beyond his remaining 18 months in office.

Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, said in a radio interview Friday that the president is intent on leaving Iraq "in a place that's sustainable for Iraqis, sustainable for Americans." But Hadley added that a certain amount of violence in Iraq would continue for the foreseeable future.

"Will we be engaged in Iraq after January 2009?" Hadley rhetorically asked in an interview on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." "I think the president hopes so."

The president has been cautious not to overstate what the next, mid-September assessment might show, refusing this week to speculate.

Nonetheless, the administration, which just a few weeks ago seemed to be playing down the importance of September as a pivotal moment in the war debate, now appears to be placing renewed emphasis on it.

"The president is simply not going to prejudge what those recommendations are going to be or what the decisions are," Perino said. "I think the reason that he was pointing to September was to remind people that this is an interim report" that was released this week.

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amadhani@tribune.com

mdsilva@tribune.com