[Peace-discuss] Democrats' New Strategy: Force Slow End to War

[Chuck Minne]

Go to Original <http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0207/2751.html>

    Democrats' New Strategy: Force Slow End to War
    By John Bresnahan
    Politico.com

    Wednesday 14 February 2007

    Top House Democrats, working in concert with anti-war groups, have 
decided against using congressional power to force a quick end to U.S. 
involvement in Iraq, and instead will pursue a slow-bleed strategy 
designed to gradually limit the administration's options.

    Led by Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., and supported by several 
well-funded anti-war groups, the coalition's goal is to limit or sharply 
reduce the number of U.S. troops available for the Iraq conflict, rather 
than to openly cut off funding for the war itself.

    The legislative strategy will be supplemented by a 
multimillion-dollar TV ad campaign designed to pressure vulnerable GOP 
incumbents into breaking with President Bush and forcing the 
administration to admit that the war is politically unsustainable.

    As described by participants, the goal is crafted to circumvent the 
biggest political vulnerability of the anti-war movement - the 
accusation that it is willing to abandon troops in the field. That fear 
is why many Democrats have remained timid in challenging Bush, even as 
public support for the president and his Iraq policies have plunged.

    Murtha and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have decided that 
they must take the lead in pressuring not only Republicans but also 
cautious Senate Democrats to take steps more aggressive than nonbinding 
resolutions in challenging the Bush administration.

    The House strategy is being crafted quietly, even as the chamber is 
immersed this week in an emotional, albeit mostly symbolic, debate over 
a resolution expressing opposition to Bush's plan to "surge" 21,500 more 
troops into Iraq.

    Murtha, the powerful chairman of the defense subcommittee of the 
House Appropriations Committee, will seek to attach a provision to an 
upcoming $93 billion supplemental spending bill for Iraq and 
Afghanistan. It would restrict the deployment of troops to Iraq unless 
they meet certain levels adequate manpower, equipment and training to 
succeed in combat. That's a standard Murtha believes few of the units 
Bush intends to use for the surge would be able to meet.

    In addition, Murtha, acting with the backing of the House Democratic 
leadership, will seek to limit the time and number of deployments by 
soldiers, Marines and National Guard units to Iraq, making it tougher 
for Pentagon officials to find the troops to replace units that are 
scheduled to rotate out of the country. Additional funding restrictions 
are also being considered by Murtha, such as prohibiting the creation of 
U.S. military bases inside Iraq, dismantling the notorious Abu Ghraib 
prison and closing the American detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

    "There's a D-Day coming in here, and it's going to start with the 
supplemental and finish with the '08 (defense) budget," said Rep. Neil 
Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, who chairs the Air and Land Forces subcommittee 
of the House Armed Services Committee.

    Pelosi and other top Democrats are not yet prepared for an open 
battle with the White House over ending funding for the war, and they 
are wary of Republican claims that Democratic leaders would endanger the 
welfare of U.S. troops. The new approach of first reducing the number of 
troops available for the conflict, while maintaining funding levels for 
units already in the field, gives political cover to conservative House 
Democrats who are nervous about appearing "anti-military" while also 
mollifying the anti-war left, which has long been agitating for Pelosi 
and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to be more aggressive.

    "What we have staked out is a campaign to stop the war without 
cutting off funding" for the troops, said Tom Mazzie of Americans 
Against Escalation of the War in Iraq. "We call it the 'readiness 
strategy.'"

    Murtha's proposal, which has been kept under tight wraps, is likely 
to pass the House next month or in early April as part of the 
supplemental spending bill, Democratic insiders said, if the language 
remains tightly focused and does not threaten funding levels for combat 
forces already in the field. The battle will then shift to the Senate. 
Anti-war groups like Mazzie's are prepared to spend at least $6.5 
million on a TV ad campaign and at least $2 million more on a 
grass-roots lobbying effort. Vulnerable GOP incumbents like Sens. Norm 
Coleman of Minnestoa, Susan Collins of Maine, Gordon Smith of Oregon and 
John Sununu of New Hampshire will be targeted by the anti-war 
organizations, according to Mazzie and former Rep. Tom Andrews, D-Maine, 
head of the Win Without War Coalition.

    Mazzie also said anti-war groups would field primary and general 
election challengers to Democratic lawmakers who do not support 
proposals to end the war, a direct challenge to conservative incumbents 
who are attempting to straddle the political line between their pro- and 
anti-war constituents.

    If the Senate does not approve these new funding restrictions, or if 
Senate Republicans filibuster the supplemental bill, Pelosi and the 
House Democratic leadership would then be able to ratchet up the 
political pressure on the White House to accede to their demands by 
"slow-walking" the supplemental bill. Additionally, House Democrats 
could try to insert the Murtha provisions into the fiscal 2008 defense 
authorization and spending bills, which are scheduled to come to the 
floor later in the year.

    "We will set benchmarks for readiness," said a top Democratic 
leadership aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity. If enacted, 
these provisions would have the effect of limiting the number of troops 
available for the Bush surge plan, while blunting the GOP charge that 
Democrats are cutting funding for the troops. "We are not cutting 
funding for any (unit) in Iraq," said the aide, who admitted the 
Democratic maneuver would not prevent the president from sending some 
additional forces to Baghdad. "We want to limit the number who can go 
... We're trying to build a case that the president needs to change course."

    Mazzie, though, suggested that Democrats ought to directly rebut the 
Republican charge that Democrats are threatening the safety of American 
forces in the field by pushing restrictions on war funding. "Cutting off 
funding as described by the media and White House is a caricature," 
Mazzie said. "It has never happened in U.S. history, and it won't happen 
now."

    Andrews, who met with Murtha on Tuesday to discuss legislative 
strategy, acknowledged "there is a relationship" with the House 
Democratic leadership and the anti-war groups, but added, "It is 
important for our members that we not be seen as an arm of the 
Democratic Caucus or the Democratic Party. We're not hand in glove."

    Andrews's group has launched a new Web site, MoveCongress.org, and 
he has already posted an interview with Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., one 
of the founders of the "Out of Iraq Caucus" in the House. An interview 
with Murtha on his legislative strategy will be posted on the site Thursday.

    "I don't know how you vote against Murtha," said Andrews. "It's kind 
of an ingenious thing."


 
   
   
  
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