Biden lays out Iraq plan, hits White House 'credibility gap'

WASHINGTON -- Presidential hopeful Senator Joseph Biden, bemoaning what he called the White House's ''credibility gap" on Iraq, yesterday laid out a plan to ease the United States out of Iraq and help stabilize the country, a process he said would still require an American presence there for two more years.

Biden, a Delaware senator who announced on Sunday that he expects to seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, rejected proposals by some of his colleagues to pull troops out of Iraq immediately or on a specific timetable, saying such moves would embolden insurgents and ultimately lead to a civil war. Instead, he said the United States needs to enlist the support of allied nations to train Iraqi troops and police, speed up reconstruction work, and help the nascent Iraqi government fight corruption.

Biden also called on President Bush to explain his plans for Iraq to the American people. The administration should report on the situation in Iraq to Congress monthly and in public testimony, the senator said in remarks at the Brookings Institution.

''The disconnect between the administration's rhetoric and the reality on the ground has opened not just a credibility gap, but a credibility chasm," Biden said in his first major address since making his 2008 presidential ambitions known. ''The American people have not been informed about the reality on the ground and the very difficult challenges that lie ahead. They do not believe we have a coherent, realistic plan for success."

The senator's remarks were made amid escalating emotions on Capitol Hill over the war. Republicans have largely defended the administration's optimistic assessment of the war, and have lambasted Democrats for delivering blistering accounts of the behavior of US military at the detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

With public support for the war on the wane, debate over Iraq -- long muffled on Capitol Hill -- has been reignited. Representative Walter Jones, a Republican from North Carolina, led a small group of lawmakers last week in proposing a resolution calling for an exit plan from Iraq. Jones, who strongly supported the 2002 resolution authorizing force in Iraq, said he now felt guilty about his vote because of the more than 1,700 US military deaths there.

House Democrats spent three hours last week discussing the issue, and Senate Democrats are set to have a meeting on it this week. House Democrats also called yesterday for a special, bipartisan commission to investigate alleged abuses at Guantanamo. Both White House spokesman Scott McClellan and House majority leader Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas, said the commission was unnecessary.

While Democrats are increasingly vocal in their criticism of the war, they have been unable to agree on what to do. Some Democrats are concerned that their comments will be perceived as unpatriotic. Others want a timetable for pulling out troops, while still others wonder if American soldiers shouldn't be brought home more quickly. ''Mass civil war [in Iraq] today, or mass civil war a year from now. What's the difference? Five hundred kids," said Representative Michael Capuano, a Somerville Democrat who voted against the war and is still mulling the exit strategy resolution.

Susan Milligan can be reached at milligan@globe.com.