Senators Seek Update to Iraq Authorization

Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) said yesterday that the congressional resolution approved in October 2002 that gave President Bush authority to use force in Iraq needs to be changed because it no longer covers what U.S. forces are doing or will do in the future.

The former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee recalled during an appearance on ABC's "This Week" that Bush was given authority to protect the United States from Saddam Hussein and enforce United Nations resolutions involving Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. But Warner said that the original resolution "does not embrace what the missions are today and the missions that are likely to take place with our forces."

Warner said he wanted Bush to offer a revised resolution this fall so that by the fifth anniversary of the original Oct. 16 authorization "our forces fighting and the world can see this clear support between the Congress and the president's mission."

Warner said he believes the Iraqi government is "not likely to perform as we anticipated" based on the current strategy involving higher U.S. troop levels. "We're trying to force the president to change the strategy now," and not wait to begin the process in September after receiving reports from Gen. David H. Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, he said.

Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), co-author of Warner's proposal and former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on ABC that he expects the United States will continue to have troops in Iraq "because for the diplomacy to work . . . we have to be there, we have to train people, we have to keep down terrorists, we have to keep looking for al-Qaeda."

Their proposal, which they want to attach as an amendment to the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill, is nonbinding but resembles a proposal put forward by Democratic Sens. Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.). The Byrd-Clinton proposal would repeal the 2002 authorization and require Congress to pass a new authorization to keep troops in Iraq.

National security adviser Stephen J. Hadley, also on ABC, said the White House would oppose the Warner-Lugar proposal. But he added: "They've raised some interesting issues that we need to think about as we see how we might move to a next phase in Iraq when our military forces might have a different role."