Democrats Not Sold On Iraq Resolution

The Bush administration's push for a congressional expression of support for disarming Saddam Hussein is being slowed by Democratic concerns about a blank check to wage war.

Trouble brewed for the administration at the United Nations, as well. There, a tough resolution prepared by the United States and Britain to threaten Iraq faces stiff opposition from France, Russia and China, who hold veto power in the U.N. Security Council.

"We are a long way from getting an agreement, but we are working hard," Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday as he stepped up U.S. diplomacy internationally.

On the home front, senior Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy argued in a speech Friday that the Bush administration has failed to make a persuasive case for going to war against Iraq and that the top U.S. priority should be getting U.N. inspectors back in Iraq, not preparing for unilateral military action.

"War should be a last resort, not the first response," Kennedy said in a speech to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. The administration has not laid out to the American people the "cost in blood and treasure" of a war with Iraq, and "it is inevitable that a war in Iraq without serious international support will weaken our effort to ensure that al Qaeda terrorists can never, never, never threaten American lives again."

Three other Democratic senators, Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, told Powell the White House was asking Congress for unprecedented backing.

The senators did not question a need to get tough with Iraq for blocking U.N. weapons inspections for nearly four years and refusing to disarm.

But they said the congressional resolution the president proposed was far too broad.

For instance, Sarbanes said, it would authorize force against Iraq for refusing to return Kuwaiti prisoners held since the Persian Gulf War in 1990-91.

Kerry told Powell "you are asking for blanket authority" and Feingold said "we are hearing shifting justifications for using force in Iraq."

Powell tried to placate them, saying the Bush administration was unlikely to use force except if Iraq continued to refuse to get rid of weapons of mass destruction.

In an op-ed article in Friday's New York Times, House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt criticized Mr. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other Republicans for injecting politics into the debate on Iraq.

Gephardt said that earlier this week the president "went so far as to say that the Democrat-led Senate is 'not interested in the security of the American people.'"

Gephardt also said it was wrong that some Republicans would question Democrats' patriotism for insisting that Congress fully discuss the administration policy. He was also critical of Cheney for saying the country's security efforts would be stronger with more Republicans in Washington.

Democrats, he said, are committed to working with the administration to produce a final measure that will have broad bipartisan support.

"But the statements by the president and vice president only serve to weaken that process, undermine trust and thwart cooperation," he wrote. If Republicans "continue to use the war as a political weapon, our efforts to address the threat posed by Iraq will fail."

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said the Senate would begin its debate next week, but said the White House proposal was unacceptable.

A resolution giving the president the authority to go to war should be backed by the broadest coalition possible, Daschle said after meeting with Senate Democrats. "We've come some distance. We've got a long way to go before that can be achieved," the South Dakota Democrat said.

Senate Republicans said they strongly backed the proposal offered by the White House and felt the president had gone far enough in meeting Democratic concerns about its scope. "Any further erosion, I think, is going to be a problem," Senate Republican leader Trent Lott of Mississippi said.

Former President Clinton also weighed in on the Iraq debate Friday, saying he favors getting United Nations backing for the use of force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam.

Speaking from Africa where he is on tour, the former president said, "I think we ought to go to the United Nations. I think we ought to get a tough resolution which basically says we'll take Saddam Hussein up on his commitment to free and unfettered inspections."

"If he doesn't comply," Mr. Clinton said, a U.N. resolution should make clear that the international community "is authorized to use force."

Appearing on CBS' "The Early Show," Mr. Clinton said he thought there was "still a chance" for Mr. Bush and Democrats to come together on a strong congressional resolution. "I don't think we should characterize every difference of policy opinion as a partisan difference," he said.