Democratic majority ready to go to war over Iraq

The Next Congress

First of five parts

Capitol Hill may soon swell from speed bump to stumbling block for an embattled President Bush, depending on which levers the voters pull in the congressional midterm elections a week from tomorrow.

Handicappers say Democrats have at least an outside chance of seizing control of both chambers of Congress for the first time in Mr. Bush’s presidency, which would present him with stark new challenges in the final two years of his term.

In this series, The Washington Times will look at how such a transfer of power on Capitol Hill will affect U.S. policy and politics on a range of issues — from taxes and immigration to health care and homeland security.

In foreign and security policy, the bloody frustrations of Iraq and the bitter partisan divide over the war on terrorism have defined House and Senate races across the country this fall.

With both Mr. Bush and the war in Iraq sagging badly in the polls, some suggest that the White House will face more resistance from Congress even if the Republicans hang on to their slim majorities.

“You’re going to have much more legislative oomph, and [Congress is] going to be much more active on a whole range of issues,” said Kurt Campbell, a top Pentagon and National Security Council aide in the Clinton administration and now director of international security programs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

“It won’t be, ‘Oh, that’s fine; you go about your business in Iran and just let us know how it’s going,’ or, ‘Tell us about North Korea when you’re done with the negotiations,’ ” Mr. Campbell said.

Getting tough

The congressional elections come at a bad time for an administration confronting multiple overseas crises — with Iraq, Iran and North Korea topping the list — in addition to the long-term struggle against Islamic terrorist groups, said Richard Haass.

“I can’t think of another time when an administration was being hit simultaneously with so many difficult, yet largely discrete, challenges,” said the top State Department policy adviser in Mr. Bush’s first term and now president of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.

On some issues, though, the election is not expected to bring a major shift in foreign policy.

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