Democrats vow intense scrutiny of Bush Iraq plan
Source: Reuters
By David Morgan WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday vowed aggressive scrutiny of President George W. Bush's expected plan to send more U.S. troops to Iraq, but stopped short of saying Congress would block funding for the White House strategy. The California Democrat, newly installed in her leadership role after Democrats won control of Congress, said Bush would not have a "blank check" to pursue new policies in Iraq that have already been criticized by Democratic leaders as a dangerous "escalation" of the conflict. "If the president wants to add to this mission, he is going to have to justify it. And this is new for him because up until now the Republican Congress has given him a blank check with no oversight, no standards, no conditions," Pelosi said on the CBS program "Face the Nation." Pelosi spoke specifically about a possible funding request for additional U.S. troops while her second-in-command, House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer, said lawmakers would also take a hard look at a reported White House plan for up to $1 billion in economic aid for Iraq. "I'm saying it will get careful scrutiny and oversight to see whether or not that is a good expenditure of the taxpayer's dollar," the Maryland Democrat told "Fox News Sunday." Bush, who has launched a high-level overhaul of his Iraq team, is expected to outline a shift in course in the unpopular war this week with what could be an increase of up to 20,000 U.S. troops to try to restore stability to Baghdad. Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, urged Bush in a letter last week to reject a troop increase and begin a phased withdrawal from Iraq. The notion of more troops for Iraq has also been criticized by some Republicans, including Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. Another critic, former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, warned on ABC's "This Week" that more troops could succeed only if sent to perform a particular mission over a specific period of time. Two Republican senators -- Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky -- predicted Bush would succeed despite opposition in Congress. "I think there'll be a lot of support by Republican members and I hope some Democrats will understand ... that a failed state in Iraq is a disaster for this country," Graham said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Iraq National Security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told CNN's "Late Edition" that the Iraqi government would accept higher U.S. troop levels. "We will support them," he said. But Sen. Joseph Biden, the Delaware Democrat who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he has drafted a Senate "resolution of disapproval" to try to dissuade Bush from seeking higher troop levels. "It's a sense of the Senate to try to convince the president that there are significant numbers in the United States Senate who think this proposal is a mistake and hopefully force him to reconsider," Biden said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "This is a prescription for another tragedy," added Biden, a potential 2008 presidential candidate who expects to set up an exploratory committee by the end of the month to begin laying the groundwork for a Democratic nomination bid. But Biden and McConnell said Congress can do little to prevent Bush from acting as he sees fit. "We could pass resolutions, we can have hearings, we can debate the matter, which we will do. But I don't think Congress will have the ability to simply micromanage the tactics in the war, nor should it," McConnell said on "Fox News Sunday." (Additional reporting by David Wiessler and Nancy Waitz)
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