<

Democrats Begin to Question War Policy
Friday, March 1, 2002
By Steven Thomma
Knight Ridder Newspapers

"If we expect to kill every terrorist in the world, that's going to keep us going beyond doomsday," Byrd said. "How long can we stand this kind of pressure on our Treasury? ... We seem to be good at developing entrance strategies, not so good at developing exit strategies."

WASHINGTON -- KR
In the first partisan fight over the war on terrorism, congressional Democratic leaders yesterday questioned whether the war is on the right track as it broadens beyond Afghanistan.

The questions brought an angry response from congressional Republicans, who accused the Democrats of being unpatriotic. The White House was more measured.

The skirmish was the first public split between the parties over the conduct of the war since the terrorist attacks nearly six months ago. It threatened to undermine the bipartisan and nearly unanimous political support that has made this war effort different from any since World War II. It recalled the bitterness of the Vietnam era, when challenges to the government's pro-war policy were questioned as unpatriotic, and the American people split into seething rivalries.

Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., the Senate majority leader, told reporters yesterday that while he agreed that the war has been a success so far, he thinks the United States will fail unless it apprehends Osama bin Laden and his cohorts. The Bush administration has downplayed the importance of capturing bin Laden or any one terrorist.

"Continued success, I think, is still somewhat in doubt," Daschle said. "We've got to find Mohammed Omar, we've got to find Osama bin Laden and we've got to find other key leaders of the al-Qaida network, or we will have failed. We're not safe until we have broken the back of al-Qaida, and we haven't done that yet."

* No carte blanche
* Where's the plan?
* GOP dissenter
(More: Cape Cod Times Online News Source)
2002 © Knight Ridder.

Dan