Sen. Dianne Feinstein told San Diego business leaders yesterday that the Bush administration misled America into invading Iraq and mismanaged that country to the brink of civil war.

The California Democrat repeated her call for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to be replaced and for U.S. troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2007.

“I would say to the president, 'It hasn't worked your way, try it our way,' ” Feinstein told more than 300 people at a San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce lunch at the Holiday Inn on the Bay.
Most of her remarks on Iraq – mirroring those of the Democratic leadership in Congress – were met with polite silence, but her call to replace Rumsfeld and remove troops drew scattered applause.

“I believe our policy in Iraq is the product of a failed strategy and failed tactics,” she said, “and the time has come to move in a different direction and to recognize that the present course is a deteriorating one and it's moving the country into civil war.”

Feinstein voted to authorize the Iraq invasion, but said yesterday, “It's now clear that the administration's strategy was regime change and not Saddam's possession of weapons of mass destruction, as we were told.”

“It turns out – and I'm sorry to say this – but this administration has been wrong at every turn,” added Feinstein, who polls say holds a huge lead over her main November re-election opponent, former veteran state lawmaker Richard Mountjoy of Monrovia.

Feinstein's remarks came on a day that Bush said at a White House news conference that many Democrats want to leave Iraq “before the job is done.”

On Saturday, top presidential adviser Karl Rove said Democratic policies would weaken the nation and strengthen its enemies.

“I think that's nonsense,” Feinstein told reporters after her speech. She said Bush's policies “have turned us into one of the most hated nations in the world, and I don't think that's good for the United States of America.”

In other remarks to the chamber, Feinstein:

Blamed Republicans for lack of progress on immigration reform legislation.

Called for combating global warming by moving toward alternative fuels and toughening mileage standards for cars, trucks and SUVs.

Vowed that congressional Democrats would keep pushing to expand embryonic stem cell research. Last month, Bush vetoed legislation that lifted funding restrictions. “I believe it's the cutting edge of medicine today,” she said. “It's the one thing that offers hope to people with catastrophic disease.”