Top Republican Wants Iraq Hearings

In a sign of increasing worry on Capitol Hill, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee said Wednesday he wants Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to come testify on administration plans for invading Iraq, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Fuss.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said there seems to be a "gap" between what the administration knows and what it's been telling Congress.

He also said that while he agrees the president doesn't need Congress' permission to send troops into Iraq, he should be consulting and making sure Congress is a partner in any war plans.

"Congress has to be a partner, not necessarily in deciding when to act, but to support the president," he said.

Warner called for hearings to be scheduled after Congress returns from the August recess and suggested that Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers be the first witnesses.

There was no immediate comment from panel chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., who has previously said he expects his committee would hold hearings on Iraq.

Pentagon officials said they were uncertain whether the Senate panel had notified Rumsfeld, who is vacationing in New Mexico.

Congressional concern about Iraq has soared in recent weeks as the Bush administration has stepped up talk about the need to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The administration has also said it doesn't believe it needs formal authorization by Congress.

Warner said his reference to the "gap in facts" wasn't meant to criticize the administration, but to acknowledge that administration officials are constantly gathering intelligence, making assessments and conferring with foreign leaders.

On Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the United States to resist attacking Iraq, joining calls for restraint by leaders in Germany, China, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

The United States had support of a broad international coalition in the 1991 Gulf, but the administration is suggesting it may not wait for full allied support before launching an attack.

"It's less important to have unanimity than it is making the right decision and doing the right thing, even though at the outset it may seem lonesome," Rumsfeld said Tuesday.

After President Bush met at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, with Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar bin Sultan, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Mr. Bush told the Saudi ambassador he had not yet decided whether to attack.

"The president made very clear again that he believes that Saddam Hussein is a menace to world peace, a menace to regional peace," Fleischer said. The Saudis strongly oppose U.S. military action.

In a lively exchange with Marines at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Rumsfeld predicted that most U.S. friends and allies would support American U.S. military action against Iraq if that is what Mr. Bush decides is required to deal with the threat of being attacked with weapons of mass destruction. So far no allies have voiced firm support. Many have raised great doubts or outright opposition.

"Leadership in the right direction finds followers and supporters," Rumsfeld told members of the 1st Marine Division, who peppered the defense secretary with numerous questions about war against Iraq.

When a Marine asked whether Rumsfeld thought victory in Iraq would take long to achieve, he refused to answer directly. "The frenzy on this subject, it seems to me, is not useful," he said.

Mr. Bush has not decided how to try to remove the Saddam regime, "and therefore there are no war drums to beat," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters Tuesday.

In his remarks at Camp Pendleton, Rumsfeld stressed more than once that Mr. Bush had yet to make a decision about Iraq. He said America and its allies need to think carefully about 21st century security threats, especially the unpredictability of terrorists in possession of weapons of mass destruction.

"We do need to take some time and think these things through and consider them," he said.

Rumsfeld and other administration officials assert that Iraq possesses chemical and biological weapons and may soon have nuclear weapons as well, however not all interested parties agree. Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, said earlier this month that the United Nations has no evidence that Iraq actually has weapons of mass destruction. But he said U.N. inspectors still have "many open questions" about Iraq's capability.

Vice President Dick Cheney took U.S. war rhetoric to new heights in a speech Monday.

After calling Iraq a mortal threat, he said: "We will not simply look away, hope for the best and leave the matter for some future administration to resolve."