Redstate

The Left Won't Like It, But He's Telling the Truth

By Mark I Posted in Democrats | Iraq | Iraq debate | Iraq War Resolution | senate | Tom Daschle | War — Comments (17) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Former White House Political Driector Karl Rove told PBS's Charlie Rose that there was a debate in the Administration about whether or not there should be a vote on the Iraq War Resolution before the 2002 Congressional elections.

Despite Rose's incredulous reaction, the reporting from the time confirms that Rove is correct. It was Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and other Congressional Democrats who demanded that Congress be allowed to vote on the resolution before recessing for the 2002 mid-term elections.

Read on...

Daschle told PBS's Gwen Ifill in September of that year that the Administration had not asked for a war resolution, which is consistent with the Administration's position as outlined in accounts from August.

GWEN IFILL: Okay. What the President is now asking you for and what the administration has been asking you for is for a resolution that puts in words, I guess, puts on paper the same kind of support you've just voiced for them. When can we expect that?

SEN. TOM DASCHLE: Well, actually, Gwen, they haven't asked for it. They've talked about the need for the Congress to act, but there has not been any formal request. I called the White House yesterday and urged them to work with us so that we have a clearer understanding of what exactly their strategy is, what their plans might be, and we're getting together tomorrow morning for breakfast as we do on occasion -- the four leaders with the President and Vice President.

But that's really what it takes, a formal request. And then we go from there. If I had to guess, I would say that there would be strong support for the administration's actions, but it does require that we work together and find some resolution to whatever concerns there are with regard to the language itself. (my emphasis)

The Washington Post reported on August 26th, 2002, that the Administration had decided that it did not need authorization from Congress for military action in Iraq. It believed that authority was still in force from the 1991 resolution that authorized the Gulf War.

We don't want to be in the legal position of asking Congress to authorize the use of force when the president already has that full authority," said a senior administration official involved in setting the strategy. "We don't want, in getting a resolution, to have conceded that one was constitutionally necessary.

The Post goes on to say:

...some House and Senate leaders [read Democrats] appear determined to push resolutions of support for ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein when Congress returns after Labor Day because they consider the issue too grave for Congress to be sidestepped.

In other words, Rove is telling the truth. There was a debate within the Administration over the timing and necessity of Congressional authorization for the Iraq War. It was Democrats in Congress, led by the soon to be defeated Sen. Tom Daschle, that demanded to vote before Election Day. Democrats sought to politicize the vote and hoped to reap the benefits of acting tough on national security.

Of course, they have run very far, very fast from those votes; as the war has not gone as well as it was hoped. The left is likely to seize on Rove's comments themselves as a further politicization of the war. Only they could see the burgeoning success in Iraq as something to defend themselves from. But the evidence is clear. Since even before the war was authorized, it was Democrats who were politicizing the issue. The Administration just gave them what they wanted.