McDermott (l) and David Bonior (r) are in Iraq to assess the humanitarian situation affected by sanctions.jpg

WASHINGTON, September 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Despite the White House Thursday, September 26, sending a revised, toned down resolution on Iraq to Congress for consideration, lawmakers are beginning to speak out against a war in Iraq. Also, three U.S. Congressmen arrived in Baghdad Friday, September 27, 2002, to examine the humanitarian situation in the sanctions-hit country amid repeated war threats by U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration.

Language in the new version is more muted than the first resolution submitted by Bush last week in an attempt to appease Democratic criticism of the sweeping authority proposed in the first draft.

According to the new version debated late Thursday by Democrats "the President is authorized to use the armed forces of the United States as he determines to be necessary and appropriate in order to defend the national security interests of the United States against the threat posed by Iraq and enforce the United Nations Security Council resolutions."

If the President should authorize such a strike he should "prior to such exercise or as soon thereafter as may be feasible" inform Congress of why diplomatic routes were not affective in protecting U.S. national security interests.

The White House eliminated a clause in the original resolution that granted the President the authority to act in the Middle East, a general term the Democrats felt was too sweeping.

"It is fair to say there are a number of issues that remain unresolved," Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said after a meeting with Senate Democrats on the new draft.

"We have come some distance but we have a long way to go."

However, Senate Minority Leader Republican Senator Trent Lott said: "Its time that we get together on language that we can conclude the negotiations," he said emphasizing that "a further erosion [of authority granted to the President in this resolution] will be a problem."

Lott rejected criticism that the Bush administration was embarking on a risky, unilateral approach to Iraq. 

"We are going to get international support," he said. "It is not just going to be the United States and Great Britain. There will be a lot of others who will be involved. But also we are not going to, the United States is not going to just stand still, stand mute and allow this issue to continue to fester and become a greater and greater threat to all of us."

But a growing Democratic chorus on Capitol Hill is beginning to question Bush’s plans, including three U.S. Congressmen who arrived in Baghdad Friday to examine the humanitarian situation in the sanctions-hit country.

"We want every diplomatic effort made to resolve this [crisis] without war," said Democrat Jim McDermott (WA).

"We have no interest in having war and we want our administration to pursue every avenue before war. It has to be the last option. And our opinion is that we do not think the United States should ever make a first strike.

"The result we want, we will not have it. The result people talk about is having democracy in the Middle East, but I don't think a war against Iraq is the way to start," McDermott said.

McDermott acknowledged that he and his fellow traveling Democrats, David Bonior of Michigan - a strong supporter of Muslim causes - and Michael Thompson of California, represented a minority view in the United States.

But "I have a very strong feeling about putting people into a war, especially a war where it is not clear what it is about, or why we are doing it. From my point of view, we should do everything we can to prevent war," he said.

The trio's visit was the second to Iraq by anti-war U.S. lawmakers, West Virginia Democrat Nick Rahall having visited earlier this month.

The three Democrats flew into Baghdad from Amman on a Jordanian plane.

"We talked to the [U.S.] State Department before we came and we have the necessary documents from them so we are perfectly within our rights," McDermott said.

He said two non-profit groups, the Seattle-based Church Council and the Life Foundation of Detroit, "wanted us to come here and look at the humanitarian situation here in Iraq".

U.S. Congressmen have been divided over how swiftly to approve the use of U.S. force against Baghdad, with many Democrats insisting the United Nations be given a chance to secure movement from Iraq first.

Those voices were expressed in Washington as well, as Senate Armed Services Committee Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy said Friday that a war against Iraq "should be a last resort, not the first response," laying out his case against pre-emptive U.S. military action to disarm Iraq and oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Speaking at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, saying the Bush administration had failed to make a convincing case that war against Iraq was the only way to deal with Saddam Hussein, Kennedy warned that unilateral action against Baghdad could spark a broader war in the Middle East and stretch the U.S. military - already engaged in the larger war on terrorism - too thin.

"I have come here today to express my view that America should not go to war against Iraq unless and until other reasonable alternatives are exhausted," Kennedy said

Hinting at recent squabbles among Senate Democrats and the Bush administration over exploiting the Iraq issue as a tool for political gain in upcoming elections and the President’s statements that Democrats were not interested in the nation's security, Kennedy said, "It is possible to love America while concluding that it is not now wise to go to war…The standard that should guide us is especially clear when lives are on the line. We must ask what is right for our country and not party."

And House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, considered a war hawk, writing an op-ed piece in Friday's editions of The New York Times, charged that Bush had "decided to play politics with the safety and security of the American people," mirroring criticism leveled at the president Wednesday by Daschle.

Kennedy, addressing Iraq, added that U.S. policy should be aimed at resuming U.N. weapons inspections, noting that force could be considered later if the inspections proved unsatisfactory.

"Let us follow that course, and the world will be with us," Kennedy urged.

Kennedy said the United Nations Security Council should pass a new resolution requiring Baghdad to accept unlimited, unconditional inspections as well as the dismantling of any weapons of mass destruction. It should also attach a timetable to the inspections and require inspectors to update the Security Council every two weeks, he said.

He noted, however, that "there is clearly a threat from Iraq" and that Saddam Hussein "must be disarmed," stressing that the Security Council and the U.S. Congress would authorize the use of force if inspections were unsatisfactory.

As Kennedy delivered his speech, the United States and Britain were lobbying fellow U.N. Security Council members to back a tough new resolution on Iraq, while Bush pressed for congressional approval to use force to disarm Baghdad.

On Monday, former vice president Al Gore also questioned Bush's strategic priorities, arguing that the course of action the Bush administration was pursuing with respect to Iraq could seriously jeopardize the U.S. "war against terrorism".

Washington should first focus on tracking down the leaders of the al-Qaeda network and eliminating the terrorist threat to the United States before embarking on a risky new campaign, Gore told the Commonwealth Club, a respected San Francisco-based public affairs forum.

"We have other enemies, but we should focus first and foremost as our top priority on winning the war against terrorism," he said.

Gore said the lack of support for an attack on Iraq by U.S. allies could shatter the international coalition Bush drew together last year to fight terrorism following the deadly September 11 attacks.

Gore acknowledged that Saddam poses a serious threat to the Gulf region and to the United States, but suggested that Congress should secure a U.N. resolution against Iraq before authorizing Bush to target Baghdad.

Gore’s criticism is said to have sparked previously silent Democratic voices into action, like those of three other Democratic senators: Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Russell Feingold of Wisconsin, who told U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell the White House was asking Congress for unprecedented backing, saying the congressional resolution the President proposed was far too broad, reports news agencies.

Kerry told Powell "you are asking for blanket authority" and Feingold said "we are hearing shifting justifications for using force in Iraq."

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