Bush Rejects Democrats' 'Artificial Timetable' for Withdrawing U.S. Forces
By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 23, 2007
1:32 PM
President Bush and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) clashed today over the war in Iraq, with Reid charging that Bush is in "denial" about the situation there and the president strongly rejecting what he calls the Democrats' "artificial timetable" for withdrawing U.S. forces.
In brief remarks to reporters at the White House, Bush also said his confidence in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has "increased" as a result of his testimony before a Senate committee last week, an appearance he said made clear that his embattled friend and longtime confidant "broke no law" and "did no wrongdoing."
With Congress expected to pass an emergency war funding bill this week that calls for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq in 2008, Bush conferred with the top U.S. commander in Iraq in the Oval Office this morning and accused lawmakers of trying to "micromanage" the war.
He spoke after Reid, the Senate's top Democrat, released excerpts from a speech today in which he calls on Bush to abandon his threat to veto the war funding bill and negotiate a compromise. Reid delivered the speech on the war in Iraq at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington at midday.
Reid did not repeat his assertion last week that "this war is lost," a comment that drew sharp criticism from Republicans, who branded the Senate majority leader as defeatist. But he mixed sharp criticism of Bush with praise for Congress's efforts to end the conflict and appeals to antiwar voters to be patient.
The emergency war funding bill that Congress plans to finalize this week in a House-Senate conference committee will include "a fair and reasonable timetable" for withdrawal of U.S. combat troops, Reid said.
"Now in the fifth year of President Bush's mismanagement and mistakes, there is no magic formula," Reid said, according a text of his speech released by his office. "But, there is a way forward that gives us our best chance for a responsible end to the war -- that protects our strategic interests, strengthens our security, and brings our troops home. That way forward is being forged today in Congress, with the help and advice of Democrats and Republicans, civilian experts and retired generals, as well as the good judgment of the American people, who have made their voices heard loud and clear."
In defending his order to increase U.S. troop strength in Iraq by about 30,000 as part of a plan to secure Baghdad and western Iraq, Bush "tells us it's 'surge or nothing,'" and that the choice is to "stay the course or fail," Reid said. "With all due respect, our president is wrong, and the new Congress will show him the way."
Vowing that Congress will no longer "turn a blind eye to the Bush administration's incompetence and dishonesty," Reid said, "Winning this war is no longer the job of the American military. Our troops have already done their job. . . . The military mission has long since been accomplished. The failure has been political. It has been policy. It has been presidential."
As for antiwar voters who expect the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate to take action to end the war, the Senate majority leader said, "I understand the restlessness that some feel. Many who voted for change in November anticipated dramatic and immediate results in January. But like it or not, George W. Bush is still the commander in chief -- and this is his war."
In reference to a Bush speech last week in which he cited signs of progress resulting from his troop-surge plan, Reid said, "The White House transcript says the president made those remarks in the state of Michigan. I believe he made them in the state of denial."
He cited increasing U.S. casualties, "untold thousands" of Iraqi civilian deaths and the Iraqi government's failure to "take meaningful steps" toward achieving benchmarks such as disbanding militias and amending the constitution.
"In short, there is no evidence that the escalation is working," Reid said. "It has now been three months" since the troop increase began, he said, "and despite the president's happy talk, no progress has been made. The time for patience is long past."
He said the war in Iraq is eroding the ability of the United States to deal with other challenges, such as Iran's nuclear program, the resurgence of al-Qaeda and the Taliban movement in Afghanistan and "genocide in Africa."
Reid called Bush "the odd man out" on Iraq war policy and said meetings with him are not substantive but merely "carefully scripted sessions where he repeats his talking points."
"Our timetable is fair and reasonable," Reid said. "We have put our plan on the table. If the president disagrees, let him come to us with an alternative."
He added, "Instead of sending us back to square one with a veto, some tough talk and nothing more, let him come to the table in the spirit of bipartisanship that Americans demand and deserve." He also challenged Bush to define the "victory" that he insists U.S. forces must stay in Iraq to achieve.
Reid reserved some of his harshest rhetoric for Vice President Cheney, whom he said Bush has deployed as the administration's "chief attack dog" against the Democrats' plan to end the war in Iraq.
"This is the same vice president who said Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, that we would be greeted as liberators, and that we know Saddam Hussein had links to al-Qaeda. To suggest he lacks credibility would be an understatement," Reid said.
"The vice president demeans himself and diminishes his office by offering wildly irresponsible and inaccurate attacks on us and our strategy. He seems more interested in sound bites than sound policy -- and his record shows it."
After receiving a briefing from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Bush said this morning, "It's a tough time there. . . ." Petraeus will brief lawmakers "about what's going right and what's not going right" in Iraq, he said. "As the general will tell the folks on Capitol Hill, there's been some progress. There's been some horrific bombings, of course, but there's also a decline in sectarian violence."
Asked whether he could compromise with congressional Democrats on a timetable for a U.S. pullout, Bush said, "I believe strongly that politicians in Washington shouldn't be telling generals how to do their job. And I believe artificial timetables of withdrawal would be a mistake."
Such a timetable would tell the enemy in Iraq to wait out U.S. forces, would dissuade the Iraqi government from doing the "hard things necessary to achieve our objectives" and "would be discouraging for our troops," he said.
"And, therefore, I will strongly reject an artificial timetable withdrawal and/or Washington politicians trying to tell those who wear the uniform how to do their job," he said. "I will, of course, be willing to work with the Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, on a way forward. . . . But I also made it clear that no matter how tough it may look, that for the Congress to micromanage this process is a mistake."
House Republican leader John A. Boehner (Ohio) expressed strong support for Bush's position, saying lawmakers "should listen to our generals and our soldiers, and provide them with the resources they need -- not preemptively declare defeat."
Accusing Democrats of being "reckless and irresponsible" by refusing to approve a $100 billion supplemental appropriation on the administration's terms, Boehner called on Democratic Party leaders "to finally do the right thing and approve a clean troop funding bill."
After his meeting with Petraeus, Bush was also asked about Gonzales, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week about his role in the controversial firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year. The attorney general "gave a very candid assessment and answered every question he could possibly answer -- honestly answer," Bush said. "And in a way that increased my confidence in his ability to do the job."
Gonzales "has a right to recommend to me to replace U.S. attorneys," who "serve at the pleasure of the president," Bush said.
"In other words, we have named them, and I have the right to replace them with somebody else," he said. "And as the investigation or the hearings went forward, it was clear that the attorney general broke no law, did no wrongdoing. And some senators didn't like his explanation, but he answered as honestly as he could. And this is an honest, honorable man in whom I have confidence."
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