Democrats temper, refocus criticism on Iraq
(Correction: Because of an editing error, a story on yesterday's Nation pages about Democrats and the Iraq war gave an incorrect home state for Senator Byron L. Dorgan. It is North Dakota.)
WASHINGTON -- Stung by criticism of their dire predictions about the Iraqi elections, Democratic leaders in Congress are treading carefully on the issue of the Iraq war, striving to match their criticisms of President Bush's decision-making with equal demonstrations of support for the US reconstruction mission.
Top Democrats are no longer dwelling on Bush's decision to invade Iraq based on faulty intelligence. Instead, they are developing a more nuanced critique of the administration's Iraq policies focused on accountability issues such as irregularities involving contractors.
Some Democrats, seeking to portray the party as strong on national security, are calling for more troops in the field of combat and better benefits for veterans when they return home. Aides to top Democrats say they expect few members to vote against Bush's request for $82 billion in supplemental war funding when Congress considers the issue as soon as this week, but Democrats plan to use the debate to call for more accountability in spending.
Yesterday, at a hearing Democrats held to focus attention on contracting abuses in Iraq, several legislators were careful to separate their criticism of financial mismanagement from any discussion of the larger US mission.
''It's very important to point out that the purpose of these inquiries is not in any way to do anything other than support our troops, and support our country's mission," said Byron L. Dorgan of North Carolina, who is chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.
Senate minority leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who has called for the addition of 40,000 US troops over the next two years to help a force he has described as ''stretched too thin," echoed Dorgan's sentiments at the hearing.
''Of course there have been vocal disagreements about the president's policies in Iraq, the missing weapons of mass destruction, and the basis for war," Reid said. ''But now that our troops are mired in a dangerous effort to defeat the insurgency and we are also trying to rebuild the country, Americans of all political persuasions simply want the United States to succeed and our troops to be as safe as possible."
The anxiety within the party over the war issue traces in large part to the Iraq elections two weeks ago. Polls indicate that Bush remains politically vulnerable over his Iraq policy, but when Democrats -- including Massachusetts Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry -- sounded pessimistic notes about the future of Iraq around the time of the election, many commentators accused them of undermining the efforts of US troops to promote democracy.
Now, Democratic leaders are trying to keep the focus on controversial items in Bush's domestic agenda -- most notably his plan to establish a system of private Social Security accounts. Until a new Iraqi government has an opportunity to gain a foothold, many Democrats feel more comfortable targeting narrow aspects of the war's prosecution instead of the broad question of whether the war was justified, said Stuart Rothenberg, an independent political analyst.
''It's about the processes of the war, rather than the premises of the war," he said. ''It's a time when you can be critical of individual decisions, but if you say we never should have gone in, it makes you look very partisan or ideologically out of step with the nation. There is a political positioning going on."
Still, Democratic leaders do not have unity within their party on Iraq. About 20 House Democrats who are part of an informal Iraq working group met earlier this month and were unable to agree on fundamental issues such as whether there should be a timetable for troop withdrawal and whether Democrats should vote for Bush's funding requests.
Despite the tempered criticism of Democratic leaders, more than 30 Democratic House members have called for Bush to begin an immediate withdrawal of troops. Some leading Democrats, including Kennedy, remain vocal in their criticism of the decision to invade.
In addition, the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean, gained national prominence for his outspoken criticism of the Iraq war during his presidential campaign. Last week, House Democratic whip Steny H. Hoyer said he was concerned that Dean's antiwar stance could hurt Democrats' efforts to portray themselves as staunch defenders of American security, and said Dean should stick to party organizing functions instead of message development.
''National security is a major issue," said Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat who supported former representative Martin Frost over Dean to become DNC chairman. ''Democrats need to be in a posture where the American public is confident that Democrats will protect their country, defeat terrorists, and keep them safe at home."
Rick Klein can be reached at rklein@globe.com.
