WASHINGTON
(By Walter Pincus, Washington Post)
December 27. 2006 — Sen. Joe
Biden, a Democrat from Delaware and the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, said yesterday that he would oppose any plan by President
Bush to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq.
"I totally oppose the surging of additional
troops into Baghdad, and I think it is contrary to the overwhelming body of
informed opinion, both people inside the administration and outside the
administration," Biden told reporters yesterday. He said he plans to hold
hearings for his panel next month in a bid to influence the president's
decision.
Bush is said to be studying a plan to send as
many as 30,000 additional troops to Iraq, possibly to help stabilize Baghdad, as
part of a new strategy to improve security and stem the escalating sectarian
violence. Biden contended that such a move "will not have any positive effect,
except extremely temporarily."
The remarks from Biden, who said yesterday that
he will announce next month his candidacy for president in 2008, came as Bush
headed to his Crawford, Texas, ranch for a review of the U.S. strategy in Iraq.
The president is scheduled to host a meeting of the National Security Council at
the ranch tomorrow, to be attended by Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and national security
adviser Stephen Hadley. But he is not expected to immediately release a final
decision on a new strategy.
Biden said that one problem with the present
discussion of a surge of U.S. troops in Iraq is that no one can specify exactly
what the president may be studying. He and others have asked for specifics on
the troops' mission, the number involved and how long they would be in Iraq.
Bush said at a Dec. 20 news conference that
"there's got to be a specific mission that can be accomplished with the addition
of more troops before, you know, I agree on that strategy."
Some key Republicans, including Sens. John
McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have come out in favor
of a surge in troops. McCain said earlier this month, during a trip to Iraq,
that he believes "there is still a compelling reason to have an increase in
troops here in Baghdad and in Anbar province in order to bring the sectarian
violence under control" and to "allow the political process to proceed."
On Sunday, Graham, who had just returned from
Iraq, said security in Baghdad has deteriorated to the point that a surge in
troops is necessary, though it should be "co-joined with political reform."
During an appearance on ABC News's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Graham
said that "more troops in Anbar would help stop the insurgency flow from Syria
into Baghdad. More troops in Baghdad would give the politicians some breathing
room."
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a
Democrat from Nevada, said recently that if U.S. military commanders support a
surge, "just for a short period of time, we'll go along with that." But a period
of 18 months to 24 months would be too long, he said.
Biden noted yesterday that retired Gen. Jack
Keane, a former Army vice chief of staff, helped produce an American Enterprise
Institute study that called for 20,000 additional U.S. troops in Baghdad to
clear and hold neighborhoods for about 18 months.
Biden said he does not think that even that
would work. He stressed that if "if the president does make this surge, I hope
he levels with the American people and makes it clear the minimum that they're
going to be there for 18 months."
Biden said that his committee will begin
hearings on Iraq on Jan. 9 and that, if Bush has not released his plan by then,
he might start with experts and "those proposing alternatives" to what the
president may do. He is planning three days of hearings each week for three
weeks and will include past and present administration officials.
Rice has agreed to appear, but not until after
Bush has presented his new strategy to the nation. Gates will be asked to
appear. Biden said he does not plan to call former defense secretary Donald
Rumsfeld, but he added: "That's not something that's totally off the table."
Biden said that he hopes to generate "some
bipartisan consensus in the Senate" but that he does not expect to do more than
try to influence Republican senators who could then affect Bush's decisions. He
said that, at his last meeting with Bush, after the November elections, he told
the president, "all we can do is try to . . . cooperate with you, and when we
disagree with you, try to influence your decision by making the case to the
public at large that we should change course."
