Iraq war foe's remark "poisonous," White House says


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Friday January 19, 2007

Washington- Verbal attacks flared Friday between the White House and foes of the Iraq war after a Democratic Party leader accused President George W Bush of rushing US troops into harm's way. Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who is speaker of the US House of Representatives, touched off the skirmish by voicing frustration at Bush's plan to send more than 20,000 extra troops to Iraq.

Bush is counting on Congress not to use its main weapon, a cutoff of funding for the military, she said.

"That's why he's moving so quickly to put them in harm's way," Pelosi said on ABC television.

"Those remarks were poisonous," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino shot back. "If we're going to have a debate, let's have a serious one."

The exchange reflects growing pressure on Bush by the centre-left Democrats, who won control of both houses of Congress by defeating Bush's Republicans in November elections.

Rhetoric is also heating up before Bush's annual State of the Union policy speech to Congress on Tuesday, which is expected to include Iraq as a topic.

Bush is battling to keep Republican support in Congress for the war in Iraq, which played a major part in his party's electoral defeat.

The Senate is expected to vote next week on a Democratic-led measure that strongly disapproves of US involvement in Iraq, though it stops short of calling for a funding cutoff.

Several Republicans in the 100-seat upper chamber have come out against the troop boost and at least two explicitly backed the non- binding resolution drafted by Democrats.

Democrats in the House are expected to work up a similar measure in the lower house, Pelosi told reporters Friday.

Bush has said he plans to push ahead with the troop increase, pointing to his constitutional powers as the US military's commander- in-chief.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency