Congress must act against Iraq troop rise: Kennedy

Washington, Jan 10: A leading Democratic senator proposedlegislation today to block US President George W Bush from sending moretroops to Iraq unless Congress specifically approves.

With the new Democratic-led Congress flexing its muscles againstthe unpopular Iraq war and Bush expected to announce an increase of upto 20,000 US troops in Iraq, Sen Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts saidCongress had the authority to block the move.

''What we are saying is that before the president sends additionalAmerican troops into this civil war, that the president has to comeback to the Congress and get authority for that deployment,'' theMassachusetts Democrat said on NBC's ''Today'' show.

''We have that authority, we have not used it in the Iraq war but we have used it at other times,'' he said.

The move seemed destined to touch off constitutional debate aboutthe role of Congress and whether it can use its authority to stopspecific orders by the President -- who is the commander in chief ofthe US armed forces -- once it has authorized the use of force.

Congress in October 2002 passed a resolution authorizing the war.Since then the war has taken the lives of over 3,000 members of the USmilitary, and Democrats rode increasing public unhappiness with theconflict to majorities in both houses of Congress in November.

Bush today continued meeting lawmakers at the White House as hesought to convince them of the necessity of his plan to try and improvethe deteriorating situation in Iraq.

Bush indicated to fellow Republicans yesterday that he intended tosend about 20,000 more US troops as part of a deal with the Iraqigovernment. Iraq has pledged to strengthen security in exchange formore American soldiers, said Sen Gordon Smith of Oregon, who attendedthe sessions.

While many Democrats more recently have backed calls for bringingUS troops home, some lawmakers, such as incoming Senate ForeignRelations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden of Delaware, have expresseddoubt that Congress can actually block an increase in troops.

But Biden says he will introduce a resolution that would expressthe Senate's sense of disapproval over any White House moves to''escalate'' the war.

Kennedy, who opposed the war from the beginning, said he opposed cutting funding for troops that were already in Iraq.

But in prepared remarks of a speech on his new bill, he said themission in Iraq had changed so markedly from the one authorized byCongress that Bush should not be allowed to step up the conflict bysending additional troops, without a new authorization from Congress.

''My bill will say that no additional troops can be sent and noadditional dollars can be spent on such an escalation, unless and untilCongress approves the President's plan,'' he said.

Another possibility would be for Congress to attach restrictionsto some 100 billion dollars in additional money for the war that Bushis expected to request soon said House of Representatives MajorityLeader Steny Hoyer.

''That's a possibility for us. There has been some discussion about that,'' Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, told reporters.

Last week Democratic leaders of Congress, House Speaker NancyPelosi of California and Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, urged Bush to reject atroop increase and begin a phased withdrawal from Iraq.

Reuters >