The Times November 16, 2005

Now Bush's Senate allies demand an exit strategy
From Tim Reid in Washington



REPUBLICAN leaders in the Senate called on President Bush yesterday to set out a strategy allowing for a withdrawal of 160,000 American troops from Iraq.

It is seen as a clear sign that the increasingly unpopular war is unnerving the President’s own party.



The Senate’s Republican leadership, usually loyal to the White House, demanded that 2006 be a “significant transition” year in which Iraqi forces took the lead in securing their country, so that US troops could begin a phased withdrawal. The proposal by Bill Frist, the Republican Senate Leader, and John Warner, the veteran Virginian Republican and chairman of the powerful Armed Services Committee, was passed by 79 votes to 19.

It was almost identical to a Democrat proposal, but the Republicans rejected a Democrat amendment calling for “estimated dates” for withdrawal.

Mr Frist and Mr Warner’s plan omitted any mention of withdrawal dates, which Mr Frist called a “cut-and-run provision”.

Nevertheless, like the Democrat demands, the Republican plan called on the White House to provide Congress with detailed quarterly reports on progress in Iraq, and “to explain to the American people its strategy for the successful completion of the mission”.

Most strikingly it said that, by the end of next year, there should exist “the conditions for the phased redeployment of United States’ forces”.

The White House is not obliged to respond to the proposal, but the plan is a clear attempt by senior Republicans to give the party some political cover before next year’s mid-term elections, when a third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives will be up for re-election.

Mr Warner appeared to reflect Americans’ growing impatience among over the war. Well over 60 per cent believe that it was a mistake — part of the reason that Mr Bush’s approval ratings dropped this week to a record low of 36 per cent. Mr Warner said that the underlying message was: “We really mean business — Iraqis, get on with it.”

The Senate vote also comes amid Democrat claims that the White House manipulated prewar intelligence. The accusations have been fiercely denied by Mr Bush in recent days, but have begun to have real resonance in the country.

In two key speeches Mr Bush has hit back, accusing Democrats of “rewriting history” and sending mixed signals to US troops and their enemy.