Reid Rebuffs Warner-Lugar Iraq Proposal

July 14, 2007 — -- Two leading Republican senators broke from the Bush party line Friday, introducing legislation to push to president to prepare alternate strategies in Iraq. But with the legislation not requiring the president to take any specific action, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Saturday indicated a reluctance to support the efforts of Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Richard Lugar, R-Ind., leaving it an open question as to whether the GOP effort would gain much in terms of Democratic support.

"Sen. Reid appreciates these two former [Senate committee] chairmen coming forward and expressing their clear discontent with the administration's policies in Iraq," said Reid spokesman Jim Manley on Saturday, referring to Warner, the former Armed Services Committee chairman, and Lugar, the former Foreign Relations Committee chairman. "They clearly recognize there is no purely military solution in Iraq and that the war, on its current course, is making this nation less secure."

But Manley indicated that Reid was not inclined to throw his considerable legislative weight behind their legislation. Warner and Lugar, he said, "put a lot of faith in the president, that he will voluntarily change course and voluntarily begin to reduce the large U.S. combat footprint in Iraq. Unfortunately, Sen. Reid is not as confident in the president's willingness to change course voluntarily. In the fifth year of the war, we need strong legislation that compels the president to change course, change the mission, and begin the reduction of U.S. troops."

That, Reid's spokesman said, is what Democratic legislation offered by Sens. Carl Levin, R-Mich., and Jack Reed, D-R.I., would achieve, since it would mandate that the president implement specific military maneuvers.

On the other side of this considerably fractious debate, the White House also indicated it opposes the Warner-Lugar effort.

"We respect Sens. Warner and Lugar and will review carefully the language they have proposed," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said in a statement. But, he added, "we believe the new way forward strategy, which became fully operational less than a month ago, deserves the time to succeed. We look forward to hearing from Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker in September."