Foreign Correspondence

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Push for pullout plan gains steam

6-17-05

By Mark Binker Staff Writer
News & Record

Support is building in Congress behind a bipartisan resolution that calls on President Bush to set a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

The proposal has garnered a lot of attention in part because it was co-authored by Rep. Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican and vocal backer of the Iraq war. Jones once called for french fries to be renamed freedom fries because of France's opposition to the U.S.-led invasion.

"Jones' resolution would call on the president to put forward a plan to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq by Oct. 1, 2006. Bush would have until the end of this year to formulate his idea.

The call for an exit strategy sounds very similar to remarks made in January by Rep. Howard Coble, another North Carolina Republican.

"I just think that a lot of my constituents are tired of getting a lot of troops killed," Coble, who represents the Greensboro area, said Thursday. "They're getting impatient."

More than two years after Saddam Hussein was forced from power, polls show that Americans are increasingly concerned by the mounting casualties and escalating costs in Iraq. A Gallup poll released Monday found that six in 10 Americans say they think the United States should withdraw some or all of its troops.

This is the first such resolution proposed by lawmakers from both parties. The other resolution sponsors are Ron Paul, R-Texas, who voted against the war, and two Democrats who have opposed it, Reps. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii.

The renewed calls for an exit timetable come as Congress is considering adding $45 billion to next year's budget to pay for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. That would add to the $350 billion that Congress has given the president for combat and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan and fighting terrorism worldwide since Sept. 11, 2001.

"I think the time has come for us to at least consider troop withdrawal," Coble said Thursday.

Coble said he hadn't yet had time to thoroughly read Jones' resolution but may consider signing on as a co-sponsor.

The House could vote on the resolution in the coming weeks or the House leadership could decide not to bring it up for a vote.

Coble said he still believes the decision to go to war was justified based on the intelligence information available at the time.

"We had a superb entry strategy, but our exit strategy was inept at best," Coble said. "I don't even know if we have an exit strategy."

Although the contrast between Jones' enthusiastic support of the war and his call for the war's end has drawn attention to the issue, Congress has taken a vote on at least one similar measure already this year.

Rep. Lynn Woolsey, a California Democrat, attempted to modify a spending bill in May with a provision that would have forced the president to lay out a plan for bringing troops home.

That measure, which would have not set a specific date, failed 128-300. Both Jones and Coble backed it, as did fellow North Carolina congressmen Mel Watt and Brad Miller, both Democrats.

"I certainly think we need an exit plan," Miller said Thursday. "But I'm not yet ready to set a deadline."

Military officials have warned that setting any kind of deadline would encourage violence.

Lt. Gen. James Conway, director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Associated Press that insurgents would take a deadline as a sign that they could wait out an American occupation.

"If you look at it from the insurgents' perspective . . . nothing would make them happier, I suppose, than to think that there is a deadline out there," Conway said.

Miller said a deadline also might discourage future Iraqi leaders from volunteering to serve in the new government.

"A deadline sends the wrong message to the Iraqis we are hoping will step forward and take responsibility for themselves," Miller said.

That sentiment also came from the White House on Thursday.

"Timetables simply send the wrong message. They send the wrong message to the terrorists. They send the wrong message to the Iraqi people,'' said Scott McClellan, White House press secretary. "They send the wrong message to our troops who are serving admirably and working to complete an important mission."

Coble said that concerns about sparking something akin to a civil war by announcing a date for a troop pullout were serious but may be over-played.

"They have, in effect, a civil war now," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.news-record.com/news/local/gso/us-iraq_061705.htm