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Iraq resolutions harmful, GOP senators say

A group of Senate Republicans is mounting a fierce campaign against any bipartisan resolutions opposing the Bush administration’s Iraq strategy, saying a nonbinding measure can only hurt the U.S.

Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, David Vitter of Louisiana and Jim DeMint of South Carolina see an opportunity to block the Senate from voting on any of the growing number of resolutions that find fault with the Bush plan — already underway — to send an additional 21,500 U.S. troops to Iraq, most of them to Baghdad, in an effort to get sectarian violence under control.

DeMint said every injured soldier he has spoken with has had the same view. “The only thing I have had soldiers ask me is to win this thing, to just win,” he said.

“We all know the Iraqis are not ready,” he added, predicting the collapse of the Iraqi government unless U.S. troops levels in Baghdad are beefed up.

In a bit of a dare, the three senators said Wednesday that they would rather see opponents of the war propose a binding move, such as cutting off funds for military operations in Iraq, than a nonbinding resolution that would be full of symbolism but would not stop the war.

There is a reason for pushing that point. It is very unlikely Congress would vote to cut off funds when U.S. troops are deployed overseas, because those who voted for such a limit could be labeled as opposing the troops. A resolution that expresses opposition to the strategy might pass, although DeMint said it was not yet clear if any proposal has the 60 votes needed in the Senate to cut off a filibuster designed to prevent the measure from coming to a vote.

Lashing out at Democrats and moderate Republicans alike, the three senators said a nonbinding resolution expressing the views of Congress would have no effect on Bush policy but would embolden enemies, confuse allies and hurt the morale of deployed U.S. forces.

The primary target of their criticism is a bipartisan resolution passed last week by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on a 12-9 vote that opposes the troop buildup and suggests that U.S. troops in Iraq should be redeployed out of Baghdad to protect borders and fight terrorists but leave the sectarian violence in the capital to be handled by Iraqi forces.

Vitter called the resolution, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., the “defeat choice.”

“The Biden resolution is for the defeat and humiliation of the country,” he said.

Cornyn said the Biden resolution and another resolution prepared by Sen. John Warner, R-Va., also opposing the troop buildup, “are fraught with meaning, and the meaning is all bad.”

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Wednesday that debate on an Iraq-related resolution, which had been expected to begin today, now may not start until Monday. The delay is partly due to problems the Senate has had in passing a bill to increase the minimum wage, now on the Senate floor. Another reason for a slow start is uncertainty about how the debate on Iraq will progress and whether there will be enough votes to approve anything.

DeMint said he thinks that the longer it takes to start the debate, the less likely the Senate will be to agree on anything because the number of proposals continues to grow.