Congress Starts Debate: War or Peace in Gulf?

Congress today headed toward its starkest war-and-peace decision since World War II, and leaders in both parties predicted that President Bush will get what he wants: authority to take the nation to war in the Persian Gulf.

At the White House, the Administration today urged all Americans, including journalists, to leave Baghdad and said the last-minute mission to Iraq by the United Nations secretary general offers “a glimmer of hope” for avoiding war.

Bush called the leaders of Britain, Israel and Turkey today to brief them on Wednesday’s failed talks in Geneva and spoke again with U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar to wish him success on his mission.

“I’m pleased he’s going there,” Bush told reporters at the outset of a meeting with Senate supporters.

“It offers a glimmer of hope in the sense that it is another contact,” White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said.

He said it is “a somewhat somber time” at the White House. “Everyone is concerned about time running out.

“We know what has to be done. We need to work with Congress. We need to communicate with the American people,” Bush’s spokesman said.

On Capitol Hill, supporters and opponents of the President introduced competing resolutions--one giving authority for war, the other asserting that sanctions and diplomacy must be given more time to work--as Tuesday’s U.N. deadline for an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait bore down.

But both House Speaker Thomas S. Foley and Senate Republican leader Bob Dole have said the force-authorizing version had votes to spare in both houses. Numerous lawmakers said the failure of the U.S.-Iraq talks in Geneva will help Bush’s case.

Both chambers convened today to begin considering the war-and-peace issue, with decisive votes expected this weekend.

Bush’s backers said their resolution was tantamount to a declaration of war.

It cites Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait, Baghdad’s nuclear and chemical weapons programs and the international consensus against Saddam Hussein, concluding that Bush should be authorized to use military force.

“At this late hour in the crisis,” said sponsor Stephen Solarz (D-N.Y.), “the last, best hope for a peaceful resolution (is to) leave no doubt in the mind of Saddam Hussein that the United States is united.”

At the same time, Democratic leaders of the House and Senate introduced a competing resolution calling on Bush to give economic sanctions and diplomacy more time to work, and asserting that if and when the time comes for force, only Congress can give the green light.

Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.), who introduced the go-slow version in the Senate, said going to war now would leave forever unanswered the question of whether young Americans died needlessly.

The White House also released a letter that Bush sent to college students urging them to rally behind the effort to force Iraq from Kuwait.