Wary of appearing to second-guess the commander in chief,
most lawmakers are carefully avoiding criticism of President
Bush's handling of the war against Iraq.
Many senators and House members say they believe the war is
going well. Some say it's too early to pass judgment. And a
few say that even if they thought mistakes were made, they'd
be hesitant to say so publicly.
"The last thing our troops need is someone saying that
they're doing it (fighting the war) incorrectly," said Rep.
Ike Skelton of Missouri, the top Democrat on the House Armed
Services Committee. "They need the confidence that their
leadership, including Pentagon leadership, including the
generals, including the admirals, are doing it right."
Skelton said if he had doubts about the war, instead of
speaking publicly, he would call Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld. "That's the chain of command," he said, adding
that he has not yet needed to do so.
For lawmakers, clear-cut lines have emerged in what they
will say and what they won't. Members of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee have criticized the Bush
administration's planning for a postwar Iraq. Some lawmakers
have also urged the Bush administration to do more rebuild
global friendships frayed by the debate over Iraq, such as
with France and Russia.
Lawmakers have called for more spending on homeland defense
than Bush had planned in his $74.7 billion request for war
funding. They are also insisting on greater controls over
how the military portion - more than $62 billion - is spent.
But few will question how the war is being fought - even as
commanders in the field and retired officers have expressed
their own doubts.
"The questioning of the war and the strategy is aggressively
characterized as lack of support for the troops by the
administration and many of the war supporters," said Rep.
Jan Schakowsky,
D-Ill., one of about 30 House Democrats who remains openly
critical of the war.
Schakowsky
said it will take time before other lawmakers start
questioning the war. "Most members feel that two weeks is
probably not the time," she said.
Democrats learned to temper criticism even before the war
began. When Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota said Bush's
diplomatic efforts failed "miserably" by not winning a U.N.
resolution for the war, Republicans stopped just short of
accusing him of treason.
The Democratic leader's comments "may not give comfort to
our adversaries, but they come mighty close," House Speaker
Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said at the time.
Asked about the war this week, Daschle said he was satisfied
with Bush's strategy. 'All things considered, we ought to be
pleased with the progress as well as the degree to which our
loss of life has been minimized."
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi was a strong opponent
of the war, but this week she said, "I'm not going to make
any judgments about the conduct of the war except to pray
for the families with loved ones who are serving in the
Persian Gulf and especially for those who have lost a loved
one."
The Pentagon has helped court lawmakers by providing almost
daily closed-door briefings for the House and Senate
members. Rumsfeld and other top Pentagon officials have
visited Capitol Hill several times a week for additional
briefings. Lawmakers, including the administration's
critics, say the briefings have been helpful in putting
day-to-day war developments in context of the overall fight.
Those briefings have also eased any concerns that Congress's
more hawkish members may have that the war isn't being
fought aggressively enough.
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep.
Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., often expressed concern before the
war that military spending was too low. But he has rejected
suggestions the Pentagon wasn't committing enough resources
to the war.
"There will always be lots of second guessers, but I think
the operation plan is sound, I think it's being carried out
efficiently, I think the outcome is not in question," he
said.
Lawmakers haven't debated the merits of the war since
October, when resolutions authorizing the war passed the
House 296-133 and the Senate 77-23. Since the war began,
lawmakers have passed a flurry of resolutions showing
support for the troops, U.S. allies and denouncing the
treatment of American POWs.
House and Senate members repeatedly gone to the floor to
praise troops and mourn U.S. casualties, especially soldiers
from their own districts. |