Democrats move against troop plans

DEMOCRATS took the first step toward a wartime repudiation of US President George W Bush yesterday, convening a Senate committee to endorse legislation declaring that the deployment of additional troops to Iraq is “not in the national interest”.

“We better be damn sure we know what we’re doing, all of us, before we put 22,000 more Americans into that grinder,” said

Senator Chuck Hagel, the only Republican on the committee to announce support for the measure.

Sen Joseph Biden, the panel’s Democratic chairman, said the legislation is “not an attempt to embarrass the president. It’s an attempt to save the president from making a significant mistake with regard to our policy in Iraq”.

Less than one month after taking control of Congress, there was little doubt Democrats had the votes to prevail. They hold 11 seats on the committee, to 10 for Republicans.

The full Senate is scheduled to begin debate on the measure next week, although Biden has said he is willing to negotiate changes in hopes of attracting support from more Republicans.

Even Republicans opposed to the measure expressed unease with the revised policy involving a war that has lasted nearly four years, claimed the lives of more than 3,000 US troops and many thousands of Iraqis and helped Democrats win control of Congress in last November’s elections.