Demos no longer wary of liberal anti-war stand

WASHINGTON — Emboldened by President Bush's deeply unpopular proposal to send more troops to Iraq, congressional Democrats are shedding their wariness about tackling the war and embracing positions once held primarily by the party's most liberal fringe.

Fewer than two weeks after taking power, party leaders who had promised just an increase in oversight hearings on the war now are talking openly about cutting off funds for military operations.

Centrist Democrats are lining up beside longtime anti-war liberals, promising to do everything in their power to stop the president's plans to deploy an additional 21,500 troops in Baghdad and Al Anbar Province.

And the war's most passionate opponents in the House, whose last meeting before the elections was relegated to a basement room, met last week in one of the grandest rooms on Capitol Hill and drew scores of supporters, television cameras and journalists.

"Ours is now the mainstream position," said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., who two years ago saw her resolution calling for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq crushed on the House floor. Today, the congressional Out of Iraq Caucus co-founded by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has more than 80 members.

Congressional Democrats, suddenly united in their intent to pass resolutions against the escalation, still face challenges in deciding how far to go in what could become a historic showdown between two branches of government over the course of a war.

Their threat to cut off funds drew a rebuke Saturday from President Bush, who challenged the war critics to offer their own plan for Iraq.

"Those who refuse to give this plan a chance to work have an obligation to offer an alternative that has a better chance for success," he said in his weekly radio address. "To oppose everything while proposing nothing is irresponsible."

The Democrats' rapid embrace of what were once minority positions capped an extraordinary week on Capitol Hill as Congress stirred after years of standing by a wartime president.

More than two dozen members of Congress went to the floor of the House to condemn the war Thursday. Just one Republican rose to challenge them.

Democrats, who campaigned against the war, seized majorities in the House and Senate last fall largely because of unhappiness with the president's policies.

But when the Democrats returned to Capitol Hill this month, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other senior party leaders had planned to focus on a purely domestic agenda.