US Democrats slam Republicans over Iraq resolution

Washington, June 13 : Republicans in the House of Representatives on Monday introduced a resolution they said would be the springboard for a thorough debate on the Iraq war, but Democrats decried it for dealing broadly with the war on terrorism instead focusing on Iraq.

The House later this week is to debate the resolution, which declares the United States will prevail in the war on terror and does not mention Iraq until the eighth paragraph.

With President George W. Bush buoyed by last week's killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda's chief in Iraq, and the filling of two key positions in Iraq's new government, the Senate is also expected to tangle over the war as it considers a defense policy bill this week and next.

Republicans in Congress have sought to limit debate on the Iraq war, which has contributed heavily to Bush's slumping approval ratings and threatened to damage Republicans in this fall's midterm congressional elections.

Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, complained that most of the resolution dealt with the war on terrorism, and referred ''only secondarily to the war in Iraq.'' In a letter to House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio, Skelton said, ''I think you well understand that the war in Iraq is a separate conflict, an insurgency with terrorist elements and sectarian violence.'' Skelton said ''we promised and owe the American people'' a debate focused on policies in Iraq and the future commitment of U S forces and resources there.

But Boehner in a statement cast the debate as a means to highlight ''clear differences between Republicans and Democrats on how best to confront the Global War on Terror.'' He said the debate ''will be about the fundamental question: Are we going to confront the threat of terrorism and defeat it, or will we relent and retreat in the hopes that it just goes away?'' Before mentioning Iraq, the House resolution in several paragraphs cited Afghanistan and Libya as evidence of progress in the war on terror. Further down, it said former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his regime ''supported terrorists,'' and said terrorists have proclaimed Iraq the ''central front'' in their war against those opposed to their ideology.

The resolution also declared it is not in the national interest to ''set an arbitrary date to withdraw or redeploy'' U S forces from Iraq, and said the United States is committed to ''completion of the mission to create a sovereign, free, secure and united Iraq.'' While some Democrats are pushing to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq as quickly as possible, most say the withdrawal should be based on conditions on the ground. But they say Bush must have a plan and some kind of time frame for that to happen instead of an open-ended commitment.

Massachusetts Democrat Sen. John Kerry is expected to offer an amendment to the defense policy bill calling for pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq by the end of 2006.

Reuters