Washington – Senate Democrats pledged renewed efforts Sunday to curtail the Iraq war, suggesting they will seek to limit a 2002 measure authorizing President Bush’s use of force against Saddam Hussein.
The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the proposal had little chance of succeeding.
“I think the president would veto it and the veto would be upheld,” said Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana.
A day after Republicans foiled a Democratic bid to repudiate Bush’s deployment of 21,500 additional combat troops to Iraq, Senate Democrats declined to embrace measures – being advanced in the House – that would attach conditions to additional funding for troops.
Sen. Carl Levin, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, said Democratic senators would probably seek to capitalize on wavering Republicans to limit the “wide-open authorization” Congress gave Bush in 2002.
“We will be looking at a modification of that authorization in order to limit the mission of American troops to a support mission instead of a combat mission, and that is very different from cutting off funds,” said Levin, D-Mich.
The Democrat-controlled Senate failed to force debate on a nonbinding resolution opposing the troop buildup. The 56-34 vote fell four short of the 60 needed, but Democrats quickly claimed victory, noting that a majority of senators – seven of them Republicans – effectively voted against the escalation.
The House passed a nonbinding resolution Friday that rejected the president’s 21,500- troop buildup in Iraq. The vote put Bush on the defensive going into a far more consequential confrontation over paying for the plan.
House Democrats have said they will attempt to place restrictions on Bush’s request for an additional $93 billion for the military in an effort to make it impossible for him to deploy all 21,500 additional troops.
Levin said limiting the 2002 war authorization would sidestep constitutional questions.
