USA: Leading U.S. Senators debate proposed changes on tactics in Iraq.

STORY. U.S. Senators discuss the White House's review of strategy in Iraq on Sunday (October 22, 2006), after a deadly month for U.S. troops in Iraq and upcoming Congressional elections that could shift legislative power to the Democratic party. The ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Carl Levin of Michigan, said on the Fox News Sunday program, "Every time that we Democrats and a few Republicans call for a change of course instead of the President's bumper sticker "stay the course, stay the course, stay the course" we've been labelled as cut and runners. And I don't know if hope this administration is finally listening to what the reality is or recognizing the reality. I hope so," adding "we're going to have to set a time when we're going to begin to leave Iraq." The Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, John Warner, said he had spoken with the White House Sunday morning and a new U.S. strategy for Iraq does not include deadlines for the Iraqi government. "Time table it is not," Warner said referring to an article in the New York Times that said the U.S. would hand Iraq a new timetable. It is simply to establish benchmarks. The article is correct in that there is a lot of forward thinking in the administration working with the Iraqi government as to how as a team we can turn over more quickly the full responsibility of all that goes with sovereignty, and we have given Iraq sovereignty. And to allow their troops to take the lead in more and more military actions." Senator Warner said U.S. credibility in foreign policy was at stake in Iraq. "No matter how complex this situation may be, we have got to consider the consequences of this nation falling into a full civil war. The genocide among the people would be horrific. The image of America having failed in its foreign policy would do long lasting damage to our credibility," Warner said. Ranking democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, Senator Joe Biden, said U.S. troops could not continue to be "apartheid cops." "We have got to figure out how to responsibly leave Iraq. Part of the requirement I think most people agree with now is you've got to let Maliki know is that he does not have an indefinite timetable for U.S. troops to continue to be apartheid cops. That's what we're being now and we cannot stop a civil war with 140,000 U.S. forces," said Levin. The United States has shown "arrogance" and "stupidity" in Iraq, a senior U.S. diplomat said in an interview aired on Sunday, after U.S. President George W. Bush said he was flexible on tactics, if not strategy. U.S. military deaths in Iraq in October reached 78 this weekend, making it the most deadly month for Americans this year and raising pressure ahead of Congressional elections in November where Bush's Republican party could lose its majority in both houses halfway through his second term as president. "We tried to do our best (in Iraq) but I think there is much room for criticism because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the United States in Iraq," senior U.S. State Department official Alberto Fernandez told Al Jazeera speaking in Arabic in a broadcast heard on Sunday by Reuters. The State Department -- which has long been at odds with the Pentagon over Iraq according to several recent books -- had said earlier that a translation of the comments posted on Al Jazeera's English language Web site had misquoted its director of public diplomacy in the bureau of Near Eastern affairs. "What he (Fernandez) says is that it is not an accurate quote," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. Asked whether he thought the United States would be judged as being arrogant, McCormack said "No". Al Jazeera's English language Web Site also quoted Fernandez as saying Washington was ready to talk with any Iraqi group except al Qaeda in Iraq to end violence. The Shi'ite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has been meeting Shi'ite clerics this week to enlist their support in calming militia infighting in southern Iraq as well as sectarian violence between Shi'ites and Sunnis. Disarming militias such as the Mehdi Army, loyal to powerful young cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, is seen as crucial by the United States but has proved difficult for Maliki who relies on the support of the political groups linked to the militias. On Saturday (October 21) Bush held a videoconference involving Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, top White House officials and U.S. military officials in Iraq, who have admitted that a two-month plan to secure Baghdad has failed to rein in violence and that the strategy is under review. In his radio address on Saturday, Bush said: "We will continue to be flexible, and make every necessary change to prevail in this struggle." He added, "Our goal in Iraq is clear and unchanging." The White House has drawn a distinction between flexibility on tactics and a big overhaul of the strategy in Iraq, and officials have suggested such a broad revamp was not imminent. Longtime Bush family friend and former Secretary of State James Baker is leading a panel that is preparing recommendations for alternative strategies in Iraq. But the Iraq Study Group's report will not be issued until after the Nov. 7 elections, at which some polls suggest Republicans could lose control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, where Democrats and some Republicans are already saying it is time to reassess U.S. policy in Iraq three years after the invasion. Some have suggested the administration might use the bipartisan group's findings as cover for an exit strategy. Voters will decide on Nov. 7 which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives, where President George W. Bush's Republicans hold a 15-seat advantage over Democrats.

ITN Source | October 23, 2006

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