Iraq Now, the Garden Later. But What In Between?

Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) isn't giving an inch on revealing his plans.

No matter that he hasn't raised much money for a 2008 reelection bid (fueling speculation that he will not run for a sixth term). Or that this influential legislator on defense matters is challenging the White House's policy on Iraq (suggesting perhaps that he'll stick around to finish business).

Right now, he will say only that he remains focused on passing the proposal he introduced last week with Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) to revisit what he calls the "obsolete" war authorization and require the administration to begin drawing up nonbinding troop redeployment plans. Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday postponed votes on the defense authorization bill and any war-related amendments, including Warner's, because Republicans demanded a 60-vote margin for passage. But Warner was undaunted.

"We can't have any more loss of life. We need to restore the loss of credibility in some measure of the country and remain a respected source of authority in that region," said Warner, 80. "We want to bring a measure of stability to Iraq, but at the same time, this needs to be brought to a conclusion."

As a longtime senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Warner is a highly respected voice on the conflict. The World War II veteran and former Navy secretary startled Republicans last year when he returned from a trip to Iraq and said that the country seemed to be "drifting sideways." And as the Armed Services Committee's chairman during the Abu Ghraib scandal, he raised eyebrows when he insisted in 2004 that Donald Rumsfeld, the defense secretary at the time, testify under oath.

His latest bill is seen as a particularly serious threat to the Bush administration policy because it could cause other Republicans to break with the White House. Warner, a sponsor of the 2002 war authorization, largely blames the Iraqis for any failure.

"It's an ever-changing situation there," said Warner, who will make his 10th trip to Iraq next month. "Really, aspects of the military surge have received some measurable achievement. But it was meant to be a predicate for complementary levels of achievement by Iraqis. That hasn't happened, and there's no basis to think it will."

He is careful to say he is not criticizing Bush's policy but merely offering a "constructive" solution. "Don't read it as any indication of erosion," he cautioned.

In his 28 years in the Senate, Warner's reputation has evolved from that of a charmer who married Elizabeth Taylor to that of a senior statesman. It was not an easy transition, he admits, but one he was determined to make. "I redirected my lifestyle and my interests -- and my work overtook a lot of other things," he said.

Including, by all accounts, his second wife, Liz, who went running back to Hollywood after spending one too many nights alone while her husband was voting. He says he'll announce in September whether he'll run for reelection, but there are some indications of a winding-down. After a decade as a freewheeling bachelor, he married his third wife, Jeannie Vander Myde, in 2003; sold his beloved farm in Middleburg a few years ago; and settled into life in Old Town Alexandria.

He says the congressional institution has changed since he arrived -- and he longs for the old days. "It was more structured and traditional. I enjoyed the old traditions. Freshmen were seen and not heard. You made your maiden speech during your second year, and you were assigned a big brother to help you through the system. Mine was John Heinz."

Asked how he'd spend all that free time should he retire, he didn't hesitate: gardening.