Reid puts GOP senators on defensive

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005 | 8:09 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A week ago Republicans derided Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada for pulling what they said was nothing more than a cheap "stunt" designed to politicize the issue of pre-war intelligence.

But the GOP isn't dismissing the action this week, as the issue still reverberates on Capitol Hill.

Democrats are seeking to gain more political traction by repeatedly stressing that the White House may have exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq. They also are drumming up creative ways to keep attention focused on the indictment of top White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the CIA leak investigation. Now Republicans are push-ing back.

As the Senate on Tuesday turned its attention to a bill that authorizes Defense Department spending, Republican senators took to the chamber floor to defend the invasion of Iraq, to tout its successes -- and to remind Democrats that many of them supported the war, too. Reid was among those who voted to authorize the invasion.

In a Senate speech, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., reminded listeners that President Bill Clinton and top aides had believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Ensign responded to a "vocal minority" who are now arguing that the nation went to war for the wrong reasons and that the Bush administration lied to get the public behind it.

The nation is safer now because terrorists and countries that harbor them understand that they "could be the next ones to feel the force of the United States military," he said.

"See, our word means something now because the president laid a marker down in the sand and stood behind that marker when it was time -- when Saddam Hussein did not come forward and agree to the hhsolutions that the United Na-tions had passed," he said.

Ensign said the more than 2,000 U.S. military personnel who have died made the nation safer.

"I believe that history will show in the fullness of time that America is involved in a noble effort that transformed a region, and indeed the world," Ensign said. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., summed up some frustration felt by the GOP at Democratic attacks in recent days.

"We cannot as a nation lose our resolve or have politicians quibble on the edges while our men and women are in harm4s way," Isakson said.

Reid on Nov. 1 shocked and angered GOP leaders when he called a rarely used closed-chamber session for the purpose of demanding more answers from Republican leaders in the probe of pre-war intelligence. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Reid had "hi-jacked" the Senate.

But Reid scored some political points, energizing long-suffering party faithful. Supporters sent flowers and cards to his office after the "stunt" and more than 650 people posted messages on Reid's Web blog, mostly praise.

"It4s about damn time," one wrote. "Harry4s actions have restored my hope in the Democratic Party."

Democrats appear eager to capitalize on polls that show voters are increasingly suspicious of the White House.

A Washington Post-ABC News survey last week found that 40 percent of Americans view Presi-dent Bush as honest and trust-worthy, a new low. In a poll taken by the Pew Research Center Nov. 3-6, 79 percent said the Libby indictment is important to the nation. That compares with 65 percent in September 1998 who said Clinton4s lies under oath were important.

Reid and other top Democrats on Tuesday sent a letter to Bush urging him not to pardon Libby if Libby is convicted. The Nevada senator said he had no evidence that Bush would do that, but Reid made the letter the focus of his weekly briefing with reporters to keep a spotlight on Libby's indictment.

"We have a president who the American people have lost confidence in," Reid said. He criticized Vice President Dick Cheney for his role in the "manipulation of intelligence to sell the war in Iraq."

He criticized Vice President Dick Cheney for his role in the "manipulation of intelligence to sel the wat in Iraq."