Dole Urges Crisis Session : GOP Leaders Want Congress to Vote on Gulf

Key Republican senators asked President Bush today to convene an emergency session of Congress for what Minority Leader Bob Dole called a “put-up-or-shut-up” vote on Bush’s policies in the Persian Gulf.

The White House quickly rejected the idea as unnecessary. “There is no war,” presidential press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said.

Senate Democratic Leader George J. Mitchell, too, showed little enthusiasm for the idea. He said a special session would be justified only if the President makes a decision to go to war, and noted pointedly that Bush has no authority under the Constitution to commit troops to war without congressional approval.

The Republicans’ request for an emergency session reflected increasing concern among lawmakers of both parties over the prospect of war in the Persian Gulf, where 230,000 American troops are deployed as part of an international force. The President last week announced a major buildup in the region to provide an “offensive military option” for use against Iraqi forces occupying Kuwait. U.S. strength is expected to swell by 200,000 troops.

Sen. Sam Nunn, the Georgia Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that “Congress ought to speak on this subject” before any offensive military action is taken.

Normally, when Congress adjourns for the year, it can be called back into session only by the President. However, anticipating developments in the gulf, lawmakers this year gave their own leaders authority to call them back in the adjournment resolution passed as Congress left town on Oct. 28.

Dole and Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), a senior member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Bush should call the emergency session to give lawmakers a vote on Administration actions that Lugar said have put the nation “on a collision course” with Iraq in the gulf.

“I think it ought to be put up to the Congress--put up or shut up,” Dole said. “And if they say no, well, then, they say no. And then the President has to decide whether to go it alone.”

Asked if lawmakers would be called back, Dole (R-Kan.), said in an interview: “I think we will be. I don’t know when, but in my view it’s going to be before the first of the year.”

Dole, noting increased criticism of Bush from congressional Democrats, said he was not suggesting that Bush seek a formal declaration of war from Congress. But he advocated some similar “declaration of support and a willingness to commit whatever resources it takes to fulfill the mission.” It could be a simple resolution, he said.

Lugar said Bush needs the undiluted support of Congress and the American people for his actions in the gulf.

“So long as Saddam Hussein and the rest of the world have any doubt about the unified resolve of the United States in this matter, the chances for miscalculation and tragic mistakes loom much too large,” he said.

“The most certain path to peace in this situation is the credibility of the United States,” Lugar said at a news conference.

Asked whether what he was seeking was a declaration of war under another name, Lugar answered, “That is correct.”