Reid, Ensign return to Iraq issue after trips

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2002 | 8:35 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- As Congress gets back to work this week after a monthlong holiday, Nevada senators returned from overseas trips to a Senate struggling with questions about Iraq and the proposed Department of Homeland Security.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., during his trip to England had dinner with former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Guests had a "lively discussion" about invading Iraq, Ensign said.

"She and President Reagan believed that having a powerful military and being willing to use it is the best deterrence," Ensign said.

Ensign said he believes an invasion of Iraq is inevitable.

"We have a narrow margin for error because of (Iraq's) weapons of mass destruction," Ensign said. "You can't afford to wait until he does something to go after him."

Ensign and his wife, Darlene, returned last weekend from a weeklong, taxpayer-paid trip to London, Dublin, Ireland, and Oslo, Norway, to meet with politicians and business leaders. Ensign traveled with several other members of the Senate Banking Committee on the fact-finding trip. The trip's focus was examining the European economy, but the topic of Iraq was on the minds of many leaders they encountered.

Fresh from a trip to Africa, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Bush has no legal obligation to seek official congressional approval for an Iraqi invasion, and Reid is not demanding it, although he recommends that the president seek out lawmaker input.

Reid said that there are good reasons to invade Iraq but that Bush "has to make a better case" to the U.S. public and the nation's allies. Reid called Hussein a "rat and a menace."

"He should have been taken out by the senior Bush," Reid said. "But it's a real mistake to think that we can do this alone."

Reid, accompanied by wife, Landra, was on a taxpayer-paid trip to examine the AIDS epidemic in Africa and explore U.S. trade issues. He visited Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. Reid toured the deepest gold mine in the world, Pacer Dome's South Deep mine in South Africa. Placer Dome also has operations in Nevada, which is rivaled only by South Africa as a gold-producing region.

Congress returned to work Tuesday after its traditional August recess, and senators immediately turned to Bush's request for a Homeland Security Department, which the House already has approved. Democrats have said they object to several provisions of the plan that give the president more authority to hire and fire employees, as well as move employees and budgets around within the department. Democrats also oppose a provision that would bar some workers from being unionized.

Still, Reid said he was hopeful a compromise could be reached within a few weeks.

Also near the top of lawmakers' to-do list is finalizing the nation's budget; Congress has until Oct. 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year, to pass 13 appropriations bills that keep government running. It's possible lawmakers could miss their deadline, recess again for the elections, and then have to return to finish up the budget bills.

"I hope we don't have a lame-duck session," Reid said.