Biden against raising troop levels in Iraq
WASHINGTON – Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Tuesday 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 Tuesday. 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 Tuesday 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 Thursday, to be attended by Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and national security adviser Stephen Hadley.
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.”
Rice has agreed to appear at Biden’s hearings, 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.”