Anti-Surge Bill Sparks War of Words in Capital

Jan. 28, 2006 — -- Democrats predict that more than 80 senators will vote as soon as this week on a resolution condemning the president's ongoing troop increase in the war in Iraq -- and the measure has pitted administration officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill in their own battle right here at home.

It started with three words this week, when Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the symbolic resolution "emboldens the enemy."

That phrase has long amounted to fighting words in Supreme Court cases and even treason trials. Democrats note that their symbolic resolution would not actually stop the so-called troop "surge."

But today, the author of the main Senate bill rejected the criticism that what they're doing is hurting the troops -- or worse, that the bill aligns lawmakers with the Iraqi insurgency.

"It's not the American people or the United States Congress who are emboldening the enemy," said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." "It's the failed policy of this president, going to war without a strategy, going to war prematurely, going to war without enough troops, going to war without enough equipment and, lastly, now sending 17,500 people in the middle of a city of 6.5 million people with bullseyes on their back, with no plan."

The Senate's Democratic leaders are confident that they'll pass the bipartisan resolution condemning the surge as soon as Thursday. The measure has strong support in both houses of Congress -- and both parties, with Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., leading the rhetorical fight.

"I think all 100 senators should be on the line for this," Hagel told fellow senators this week. "If you wanted a safe job, go sell shoes."

Vice President Dick Cheney fired back, telling Newsweek, "I believe firmly in Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment: Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican. But it's very hard sometimes to adhere to that where Chuck Hagel is involved."

The administration is also getting some support from at least one Democrat.