Senate Debates U.S. Troop Withdrawl from Iraq

KWAME HOLMAN:

With the mounting military and civilian death toll in Iraq and the cost of the war continuing to rise, polls show the American public increasingly is uncomfortable with the direction of the conflict.

Hoping to capitalize on that sentiment five months before the midterm elections, Senate Democrats this week are highlighting the administration's post-war mistakes and calling for President Bush to begin pulling American troops out of Iraq this year.

Illinois' Dick Durbin.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), Illinois: What was promised to the American people to be a rather uncomplicated effort by America to rid Iraq of a dictator has turned out to be a war that has gone on for more than three years with no end in sight.

KWAME HOLMAN:

However, Senate Democrats differ over what course to propose. Most are expected to rally behind a non-binding proposal, crafted by Michigan's Carl Levin and Rhode Island's Jack Reed, that says the Bush administration should begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq this year.

SEN. JACK REED (D), Rhode Island: We have to send a strong signal to the government of Iraq that they must take their future in their own hands, that they must make difficult choices about their constitution, about sharing political power, about eliminating sectarian elements from their security forces, and a host of other difficult problems.

This rests upon the fundamental, I think, reality of the situation: Ultimately, it will be the Iraqis who stabilize their country and reform their country. We can help; we have helped; but it is up to them, and it must begin now.