Top Story USA
25
January 2007
Senate pans Bush's Iraq plan
Despite President George W. Bush's urge to give him more time
on Iraq, a Senate committee granted approval of a resolution
critical of his plan of troop build-up in Iraq.
The vote on the non-binding resolution in the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee was 12-9, with only one Republican, Sen.
Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, voting in favor.
"There is no strategy. This is a ping-pong game with American
lives," Hagel said.
"This not an attempt to embarrass the president. ... It's
an attempt to save the president from making a significant mistake
with regard to our policy in Iraq," said Sen. Joseph R.
Biden, D-Del., chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"This is our first, most immediate and most practical way
to affect the president."
However, the narrow result is no respite for Bush. At least
four other Republicans on the committee who voted against the
resolution openly criticized Bush’s Iraq plan. There are
indications that some may vote for another version of the resolution
when it comes to the full Senate next week.
After a State of the Union address in which Bush cut a sorry
figure, voiced their opposition to sending more 21,500 extra
troops to Iraq. Richard Lugar, the former chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, said, “I am not confident
the President’s plan will succeed.”
For those contending for the 2008 presidential bid, Iraq represents
the most potent political issue since Vietnam.
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