Senate leader says Bush politicizing Iraq issue
( 2002-09-26 09:32 ) (7 )

The leader of the US Senate, Tom Daschle, demanded an apology on Wednesday from President George W. Bush for saying the Democratic-led Senate "is not interested in the security of the American people," arguing that this "outrageous" remark politicized a possible war with Iraq.

Daschle's Democratic colleagues, many of whom have complained they were being stampeded by Bush into approving the use of force against Iraq, gathered on the Senate floor during the speech and reached out to shake his hand afterward.

"We ought not to politicize this war. We ought not to politicize the rhetoric about life and death," Daschle said in his speech, his voice thick with emotion.

Bush on Monday commented on a bill to establish a Department of Homeland Security in response to last year's Sept. 11 attacks that has stalled in the Senate in a dispute over labor rights in the proposed department.

"The House responded, but the Senate is more interested in special interests in Washington and not interested in the security of the American people," Bush said on Monday.

Breaking the recent veneer of bipartisanship over Iraq, Daschle demanded an apology from Bush to the American people and the numerous Senate Democrats who are war veterans.

"You tell those who fought in Vietnam and in World War Two they're not interested in the security of the American people," Daschle said. "That is outrageous, outrageous."

The White House said Daschle was basing his accusations on newspaper accounts using segments of Bush's comments that were taken out of context.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush was trying to "bring the Democrats and Republicans together, as he said in the rest of his remarks when he said this is not a partisan issue, it's an issue vital to our future."

Fleischer urged "everybody concerned to take a deep breath, to stop finger-pointing, and to work well together to protect our national security and our homeland defense."

Bush's national security adviser, Condoleeza Rice said the president has never politicized the debate about Iraq or national security.

"I think there has been some frustration that there hasn't been movement forward on the homeland security bill in the Senate, but it's the body, not the partisan matter of Democrats and Republicans about which the president was speaking," Rice said on the PBS program "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."

Bush kept up the pressure but avoided repeating the language that bothered Daschle at a National Republican Senatorial Committee dinner that raised $8 million for Senate candidates on Wednesday night.

He urged loyalists to do all they can to return the Senate to Republican control.

"The Senate must hear this, because the American people understand it: They should not respond to special interests in Washington, D.C. They ought to respond to this interest" Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, said in a floor speech that he was "saddened by the tone and tenor" of Daschle's comments, which he called "way over the top, way too shrill."

"The accusations levied against the president of the United States today cannot stand," Lott said. "Who is the enemy here? The president of the United States or Saddam Hussein?"

IRAQ RESOLUTION

Bush's jab at Democrats came as congressional leaders were negotiating with the White House over a resolution that the president wants to give him a free hand to strike Iraq, which he says threatens the United States and its allies with weapons of mass destruction.

A number of Democrats said the administration has not shown that Iraq poses an immediate threat. They questioned the timing of the push for military action, which has overshadowed the stumbling economy as an issue in the weeks leading up to Nov. 5 elections that will decide which party controls the House of Representatives and the Senate.

"This war strategy seems to have been hatched by a political strategist intent on winning the mid-term election at any cost," said Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, who has been an outspoken opponent of Bush's Iraq policy.

"I've been in this Congress 50 years. I've never seen a president of the United States or a vice president of the United States stoop to such a low level," Byrd said on the Senate floor, following Daschle.

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, a Missouri Democrat, said he called White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card after Daschle's speech, asking that "we double and redouble our efforts on both sides to pull these issues out of politics."

Gephardt said he agreed with Daschle's statements.

Gephardt and Daschle, both possible presidential candidates in 2004, have been walking a tightrope on the Iraq issue with Democrats fractured over whether to back Bush, or to insist that the United States act in concert with the United Nations to enforce UN requirements that Iraq disarm.

Gephardt has backed Bush's call to oust Saddam. After Bush addressed the United Nations on the issue earlier this month, Daschle was generally supportive and said Congress should move to approve the war-powers resolution.