Rank-and-file Democrats in Congress are criticizing the party’s leaders for allowing the White House to sap momentum from the antiwar movement during the August recess.
“The White House is taking great advantage of the Democrats not pushing back,” said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, California Democrat and co-founder of the antiwar Out of Iraq Caucus.
“We need bolder steps from the Democrats,” she said. “The people of this country are waiting for some leadership — some bold leadership — from the people that they elected to be the majority of the House and the Senate.”
An antiwar Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee said the party lost momentum in the war debate and later this month will likely again fail to force a U.S. troop pullout from Iraq.
The member did not want to be identified discussing leadership shortcomings.
Top Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, have responded by raising the pitch of the war debate since returning to Washington this week.
Their criticism that Baghdad failed at national reconciliation and that recent U.S. military successes are exaggerated set the stage for the next pullout bid after Congress receives a progress report Monday from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, U.S. commander in Iraq.
Rep. Jim McGovern, Massachusetts Democrat and Out of Iraq Caucus member, credited Mrs. Pelosi with doing a good job in the war debate, but he conceded that Mr. Bush has “had the bully pulpit to himself over the break.”
The president used a surprise Labor Day visit to Iraq’s Anbar province to showcase success in that one-time al Qaeda stronghold where Sunni tribal leaders recently helped U.S. troops to drive out the terrorists.
“We’re kicking ass,” Mr. Bush said of U.S. troops in Iraq as he arrived Tuesday in Australia for the Asia-Pacific summit, grabbing headlines when the off-the-cuff remark to Australian Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Democrats planned to seize upon other war studies presented this week that, in part, highlight failures of the fledgling Iraqi government, including a report on Iraqi security forces yesterday by an independent commission headed by retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, former U.S. commander in Europe.
The report, however, did not support calls for a speedy troop withdrawal, which Democrats say would extract U.S. forces from a civil war and force the Iraqi government to take charge.
Commission member John Hamre, president of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, told a House panel that continued U.S. military presence in Iraq safeguards the United States‘ many strategic interests in the Middle East.
“Every one of those interests would be seriously diminished if we have to crawl out or run out of Iraq,” he told the Armed Services Committee.
The report concluded that Iraqi security forces would not be ready to police their country alone for at least 18 months. It recommended giving Iraqis a lead role but with substantial support and training by U.S. forces.
Gen. Jones told the committee that he opposed a pullout deadline, which he said could “work against us,” and advocated carefully planned force reductions that do not jeopardize recent security gains.
House Minority Whip Roy Blunt urged members to take a “broad, objective look” at the reports, noting that the Jones report showed “that real progress is being made in raising a reliable Iraqi army.”
“As Congress continues to take in these reports and evaluate the merit of their recommendations, we owe it to our men and women fighting abroad to take a broad, objective look at the conditions in the field, the progress they continue to make, and the ways we can come together as an institution to help — not hinder — their continued success,” said Mr. Blunt, Missouri Republican.
Democrats have attempted to discredit Gen. Petraeus ahead of his delivering the administration’s war assessment.
Mrs. Woolsey said Gen. Petraeus’ report would be “packaged spin” from the White House, echoing early criticism of the report from Democratic leaders.
Mr. McGovern also took a pre-emptive swipe at the progress reports.
“What the president has to say doesn’t carry much water here,” Mr. McGovern said. “I don’t trust the president on this war any more. I know those are strong words. I just don’t [trust him].”
Democratic leaders repeatedly refer to the report as the “Bush report” and voiced skepticism that it would be an honest assessment.
The congressionally mandated report from the administration, which will be delivered in two parts by Gen. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker, is expected to show some U.S. military advances but limited progress from Baghdad toward ending sectarian fighting.
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