[southnews] Unswayed by Bush, Democrats urge US pullout from Iraq
Dave Muller
America into war in Iraq and called for a withdrawal of US forces, in a
blunt rebuttal to the president's annual State of the Union speech.
Unswayed by Bush, Democrats urge US pullout from Iraq
AFP Wednesday January 24, 12:04 PM
Democrats have accused President George W. Bush of "recklessly" leading
America into war in Iraq and called for a withdrawal of US forces, in a
blunt rebuttal to the president's annual State of the Union speech.
"This country has patiently endured a mismanaged war for nearly four
years," said Senator James Webb, who was designated to deliver the
opposition party's rebuttal to the president's key annual address before
Congress.
Bush urged a deeply skeptical US public and wary lawmakers to give his
strategy to send 21,500 more US soldiers into battle in Iraq a chance to
work, telling a joint session of the US Congress that he and American
military commanders had looked at "every possible approach."
"In the end, I chose this course of action because it provides the best
chance of success," he told the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Failure in Iraq would "be grievous and far reaching," and could unleash
an "epic battle" between extremists that would engulf the entire Middle
East.
"For America, this is a nightmare scenario. For the enemy, this is the
objective," Bush said.
More than 3,000 US soldiers have been killed since the March 2003
invasion, and lawmakers have loudly condemed the president's unpopular
plan to send more troops to Iraq.
Webb's searing criticism of US Iraq policy came as the Congress is
poised to take up several bills amounting to resolutions of
no-confidence in the president's handling of Iraq, with the first Senate
hearings on Wednesday.
Leading Republican lawmakers, John Warner, former head of the Senate
Armed Services committee, is also preparing to introduce a motion
condemning Bush's plan in what could be a sharp setback to the president.
The opposition has insisted that Bush will not get "a blank check" as
they consider a raft of proposals, ranging from a non-binding
congressional resolution rejecting his troop increase, to bills capping
US forces at the existing level or even cutting war funds altogether.
"The president took us into this war recklessly," Webb declared, saying
Bush ignored the counsel even of many of his top advisers in pushing
ahead with the invasion.
"The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being
fought -- nor does the majority of our military," he said. "We need a
new direction."
If the president's remarks did little to sway Democrats, political
pundit Larry Sabato said they were also unlikely to convince a cynical
public whose patience has been spent spent by continual setbacks in Iraq.
"A lot of people are so turned off, they're not even going to watch it,"
Sabato said ahead of Bush's speech, other than "for the atmospherics."
It was not just Democrats who were unconvinced, however, particularly on
the question of the way foward in Iraq.
"The Pentagon has warned that an escalation of our troop levels in Iraq
would lead to an increase in Al-Qaeda attacks, provide more targets for
Sunni insurgents and fuel the jihadist appeals for foreign fighters to
attack US soldiers," said Republican Representative Walter Jones.
"I am persuaded by all available evidence that an escalation of US troop
levels is not the way forward in Iraq," said Jones, a one-time staunch
Bush supporter, who in recent months has become an outspoken critic.
The president's wide-ranging speech also touched on a number of domestic
initiatives, including a sweeping new energy conservation plan and a new
proposal on jumpstarting a long-stalled immigration reform plan.
But Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of
Virginia, told AFP that most of those proposals are likely to be dead on
arrival as they "won't pass in a Democratic Congress."
"He can veto their plans, but they're not about to pass his. His
domestic presidency is basically over."