Playing politics on Iraq

On a day when Barack Obama is getting a lot of attention for his tough stance on Pakistan, Hillary Clinton is continuing her attacks on the Bush administration over whether Congress has a right to monitor Pentagon plans for a possible withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

The tiff began when Clinton wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates asking him to brief Congress on contingency plans. She got a stinging reply two weeks ago from under secretary of defense Eric Edelman, who said that discussing a withdrawal "reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq."

Gates himself later sought to calm the waters, saying he doesn't question anyone's motives.

But Vice President Dick Cheney wasn't quite so friendly on CNN's Larry King Live last night, when he said it would be wrong to share operational plans with Congress. To do so "to respond to political charges, such as those that Senator Clinton made, I think would be unwise," he said.

Clinton struck back today in an email asking supporters to sign a letter to Bush. It's the administration that's playing politics, she wrote.

"So which is it, President Bush?" she wrote. "Do you support the safe return of troops from Iraq, or are you going to continue to play politics with their lives?"