Senators denounce Bush Iraq policy

Administration infighting blamed for ‘haphazard, shotgun’ diplomacy
Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," said the U.S. military may require troops to be in Iraq for eight years.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 — President Bush has lost control of Iraq policy because of infighting among administration officials, the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Sunday. The administration also came under criticism from Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry for being unwilling to create a real international coalition and alienating governments everywhere. “This is haphazard, shotgun, shoot-from-the-hip diplomacy,” the Massachusetts senator said.

THE COMMITTEE leaders urged Bush to take charge of U.S. postwar policy in Iraq.

“The president has to be the president, over the vice president and over these secretaries,” the chairman, Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

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