WASHINGTON—As the Senate begins a contentious debate over Iraq, Democrat Ken Salazar of Colorado said Tuesday that he and Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander will push a proposal that could allow the U.S. to begin pulling back troops by March.
Salazar said they will offer the plan as an amendment to next year’s military spending bill, which lawmakers are expected to haggle over for the next week or more.
Emboldened by the public’s growing distaste for the war, several Democrats want to set a date to withdraw troops.
Salazar and Alexander’s measure represents a compromise. It does not set a date for withdrawal but proposes making the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations the U.S. strategy for the war.
The bipartisan group of political and policy experts in December recommended a series of benchmarks Iraqis would have to meet for continued U.S. support. If all the steps were followed, the panel said, most troops could begin leaving by next spring.
Salazar said that unlike some amendments being offered by fellow Democrats, his measure has the best opportunity to become U.S. policy because it has support from Democrats and Republicans.
“What people want is for their congressmen to get results. You have to work across the aisle to get change in Iraq,” Salazar said in a conference call with reporters. “You’re not going to do that on amendments that lack bipartisan support.”
Salazar said he expected the amendment to get a vote next week.
The Iraq Study Group emphasized a bigger role for diplomacy in the effort to stabilize Iraq. It also said the U.S. could shift the primary mission of its forces from combat to training.
Despite the initial flurry of attention, most of its recommendations soon were relegated to the wings.
Several critics have since questioned the effectiveness of the group’s proposal.
Salazar defended the report, quoting a letter sent this week from Iraq Study Group co-chair Lee H. Hamilton, a Democrat, saying, “The recommendations of the Iraq Study Group are as timely and urgent today as they were in December.”
Nervous Republicans searching for an out on the war have signed on to the bill in recent days, seeing it as a compromise between President Bush’s increasingly unpopular Iraq strategy and Democrats’ demands.
Several face potentially difficult re-election battles next year in which the Iraq war could feature heavily.
They include Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who announced his support last week. He criticized Bush’s handling of the war and called for a strategy shift that would bring troops home faster.
Others who have already said they would back the bill are Republican Sens. Bob Bennett of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, and Judd Gregg and John Sununu of New Hampshire; and Democrats Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Bill Nelson of Florida, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.
Companion legislation in the House was sponsored by Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and others. Udall is now running for the Senate.
