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Democrats for toning down resolution

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington SEPT. 27. As the Senate prepares to take up the Iraq Resolution next week, senior lawmakers on the Democratic side are making it known that the White House is seeking something that is far too sweeping in language. And Republicans are warning that any further "erosion'' will be a "problem''.

The President, George W. Bush, even while going about his business of making routine anti-Iraq speeches, has taken a shot at the Senate Majority Leader, Tom Daschle, by saying that the enemy does not care about labour rules in the proposed Homeland Security Department. "The enemy doesn't care about these rules, the Senate does'', the President remarked. That was a direct reference to Mr. Daschle's criticism that the President was trying to politicise the debate on Iraq and the Homeland Security Department legislation.

The fact that Mr. Bush chose to respond to Mr. Daschle is a signal that the White House is intending to meet any criticism head on. Mr. Bush, in fact, went on to ridicule the position of the Democrats that labour rules and issues be strictly adhered to in the creation of a new Homeland Security Department.

The President argues that the Chief Executive must be given enough latitude to go about the job effectively. But in many ways, the tussle between Republicans and Democrats right now is not over the Homeland Security Department, rather over a Congressional Resolution on Iraq, which the Democrats have started to focus upon more intently. Senior Democrats have warned the administration that it is not only seeking an extremely broad Resolution, and in the process, unprecedented Congressional backing, but also that the rationale for toughening up on Iraq are shifting. "We are hearing shifting justifications for using force against Iraq'', said the Democratic Senator from Wisconsin, Russ Feingold. Leading Democrats on the Hill from the Senate have told the Secretary of State, Colin Powell, that they are bothered by the fact that the administration is leaning for a Resolution that would approve the use of force against Iraq for refusing to send back Kuwaiti prisoners held since the end of the last Gulf War. And some are worried about the language about restoring peace and stability in West Asia. But Gen. Powell has apparently assured lawmakers that the administration was unlikely to use force against Iraq except in the case of a refusal to destroy weapons of mass destruction.

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