Editorial: Some straight talk on Iraq

Thursday, Nov. 17, 2005 | 7:17 a.m.

On Tuesday Democrats in the U.S. Senate proposed that President Bush should set a timetable for a phased withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Republicans countered, however, that troop movements cannot be announced in advance during wartime, for the obvious reason that our enemies would greatly benefit from the information. The terrorists in Iraq would claim victory and quite possibly gain significant momentum in promoting bloody resistance as the way to deal with all U.S. initiatives in the Arab world.

Yet the Democrats were not wrong to propose the timetable, as their action in response to the stalled war in Iraq forced the majority Republicans to offer an alternative. After the Senate voted 58-40 to kill the Democrats' proposal, the Republicans offered one of their own. It calls upon President Bush to decide that next year "should be a period of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty."

The Republican alternative passed 70-19, with Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., among those in support. The Republican alternative also called upon the president to begin making quarterly reports to Congress on the progress in Iraq, and to "explain to Congress and the American people its strategy for the successful completion of the mission in Iraq." Although the measure is a purely advisory amendment tacked onto a defense spending bill, and one that may not survive after compromises with the House, it nevertheless is noteworthy.

It shows that the Senate, at least, is finally doing something to hold the president accountable for the war that he insisted upon and then let get bogged down reminiscent of Vietnam. It was a mistake to dismantle the existing Iraqi military and police forces, which made it easier for terrorists to gain strongholds. And experienced generals advised Bush and his top staff to send in a much larger force, so that Iraq's borders and cities could be quickly secured. But those generals were overruled.

With casualties rapidly mounting among the too-few U.S. troops, with enemy fighters easily penetrating Iraq's borders and with the new Iraqi government still totally dependent upon the United States for its security, it is only right that Congress start demanding that the president outline his general strategy for victory. During his campaign for re-election last year, Bush told audiences, "I know what I'm doing in Iraq."

The Senate's action on Tuesday does not overtly contradict that statement, but it does ask for Bush to prove it. "Stay the course" is a nice slogan, but the time has come to find out just what course Bush is talking about.