Biden Musings Trigger GOP Attack

The Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee drew sharp Republican criticism Wednesday for his public musings on the potential downside of a prolonged U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan.

In remarks Monday to the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) praised President Bush’s handling so far of the diplomatic and military action against terrorists but said the administration soon will face some “tough calls.”

“Case in point: How much longer does the bombing continue? Because we’re going to pay every single hour. Every single day it continues, we’re going to pay an escalating price in the Muslim world. . . . And that, in fact, is going to make the aftermath of our quote, victory, more difficult to reconstruct the region.”

Biden added that he believes the American public and the Islamic world would support a lengthy military conflict if it is “mano-a-mano,” meaning ground combat. But he said the nation risks playing into “stereotypical criticism” if it is perceived as “this high-tech bully that thinks from the air we can do whatever it is we want to do” and if some portion of world opinion tilts toward the view that Americans are “indiscriminately bombing innocents--which is not the truth.”

House Republicans denounced his comments as a crack in the bipartisan unity that Congress has presented since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) called Biden’s comments irresponsible. “The last thing our country needs right now is Sen. Joe Biden calling our armed forces a ‘high-tech bully,’ ” he said. “The American people want us to bring these terrorists to justice. They do not want comments that may bring comfort to our enemies.”

Rep. Thomas M. Davis of Virginia said: “I believe we should take full advantage of every piece of the technology at our disposal in order to bring the Al Qaeda network to justice, and it is irresponsible for the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to suggest to the world that our bipartisan resolve is waning.”

Late Wednesday, Biden defended himself on the Senate floor. He had his entire council speech and question-and-answer session read into the record and called the criticism “a political drive-by shooting, but accidental, I hope.”

“It’s important for the world to know, and the nation to know, we are behind the president,” he said.