Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=03/19/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=DEMOCRATS / IRAQ (L-O)

NUMBER=2-300938

BYLINE=DAN ROBINSON

DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Opposition Democrats in Congress say they stand by U-S fighting forces in the looming conflict with Iraq. However, they continue to criticize President Bush, and are linking this criticism on Iraq with the U-S economy. V-O-A's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill:

TEXT: After Senate Democratic leader, Tom Daschle's sharp comments earlier this week about what he called the failure of diplomacy by the president, Republicans responded with a barrage of criticism.

On Wednesday, the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives used a news conference devoted to the current year budget, now being debated in Congress, to lash out at Republicans.

The number two Democrat, Maryland's Steny Hoyer, renewed his party's allegation that President Bush's budget will lead to huge deficits and long-term debt, and drew a rhetorical line between the economy and Iraq:

/// HOYER ACT ///

What the president's proposal does is say to some young people go to the sands of Iraq, take a risk for freedom. And when you return we will have increased the debt you will have to pay off, young people.

/// END ACT ///

Last October, 126 Democratic members of the House voted against the resolution authorizing President Bush to take military action to dis-arm Iraq. The resolution was approved overwhelmingly in the House, and the Senate.

On Wednesday, the president sent his formal notification to Congress, required under that resolution, that diplomacy had failed to enforce U-N resolutions aimed at achieving Iraqi disarmament.

Democrats have been saying that Congress was rushed into approving the resolution. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says there was not enough debate:

/// PELOSI ACT ///

I do think that Congress could have had a more robust participation in the debate, in the months following October, but absent a resolution on the floor, that debate has not taken place.

/// END ACT ///

With war now a virtual certainty, Democrats are being careful not to allow themselves to be painted by Republicans as non-supportive of U-S soldiers in the field. But they are shifting their focus to pressing the White House on specifics of plans for a post-Saddam Iraq.

As part of that, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Ike Skelton, has sent President Bush and other administration officials, a letter containing a long list of things that could go wrong after a U-S victory.

Mr. Skelton urges the president to explain to the American people the reasons for a possible lengthy U-S presence in Iraq, in the Congressman's words, "even with the economic and military burdens this will entail." (signed)

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