Reid shifts war strategy week in review: washington, D.C. Compromise on troops meant force Republicans to take responsibility

Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007 | 10 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- This was an August for the history books.

The Architect of the Bush administration, adviser Karl Rove, stepped down. Two Mondays later, embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales did the same.

But those aren't the only reasons that after a one-month recess, lawmakers return to a Washington this week that is a changed place.

Democrats set out for their districts in early August confident they had set the stage for a defining debate over the war in September. Army Gen. David Petraeus would deliver his much-anticipated report on President Bush's troop “surge” and even Nevada Republican Reps. Jon Porter and Dean Heller said they would reconsider their support for the war strategy at that time.

September was supposed to be the month for change.

But just before the recess, the military and the administration began sending out the word that the troop increase in al-Anbar province, a notorious Sunni stronghold, was working. Residents were now working with U.S. forces. Perhaps the surge was an improvement, said Republicans and Democrats who toured the region.

Midway through August, President Bush delivered a speech comparing Iraq to Vietnam. Historians disagreed with many of the comparisons, but the Republicans were resurrecting the cut-and-run mantra from earlier Iraq debates, trying to undercut the momentum for a September change of course.

Then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid did something bold: He offered September as a time to compromise with Republicans. Reid told The Washington Post late last week that he was willing to entertain Republican-supported strategies that may not go so far as bringing troops home now, as Democrats want, but would make smaller shifts in the direction of the war.

The left was not pleased. The liberal Web site dailykos.com immediately expressed its dismay that Reid had forgotten why voters sent Democrats to Congress last fall: to end the war. The Web site complained that Democrats appear poised to give Bush another blank check and Reid's leadership strategy appears to be simply to “run out the clock.”

Or is he.

Just as Republicans might be courting short-term gain this September -- refusing to withdraw troops as Democrats want -- over the long-term, they will be blamed if Iraq remains broken and U.S. troops continue to die.

By offering to compromise, Reid is trying to shift responsibility back to Republicans. Who will lose the war of public opinion if Republicans don't step forward with proposals -- and votes to back them up?

Democrats have tried to end this war, but they cannot get enough Republican votes on their side. Now Republicans are being asked to offer solutions.

Polls show Americans remain opposed to the war and want the troops home, but their opinions, too, have been shifting with the news.

When Congress resumes, lawmakers will have yet another chance to try to change U.S. involvement in Iraq, or explain why it is best for troops to stay.

Lisa Mascaro can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or at lisa.mascaro@lasvegassun.com.