Date:10/10/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/10/10/stories/2002101002111400.htm

International

U.S. resolution may be delayed

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington Oct. 9. After the first full day of debate in the House of Representatives, there is no doubt that the White House will be having its "tough" Iraq resolution by tomorrow. But the show of unity between the House and the Senate that some lawmakers wanted — or even expected — is not going to happen. The veteran Democratic Senator from West Virginia, Robert Byrd, has said that he will use parliamentary manoeuvres to delay vote in the Senate.

This means that separate votes for the Iraq resolution in the House and Senate on Thursday is not going to take place. Senator Byrd has vowed to push the debate in the Senate into next week. The resolution, in the view of the Senator from West Virginia — who has always been a staunch defender of the Constitution — is a "blank check'' and one that "cedes the decision-making power of the Congress under the Constitution to declare war''.

Mr. Byrd has further suggested that a vote on the resolution be put off until after the November elections. At a time when out of political considerations many Democrats have been lining behind the President on Iraq, this is hardly a consideration to Mr. Byrd who would have taken the same position even if he were contesting this November 5. But Senator Byrd is not going to be a lone opponent in his chamber for there are other well-known persons like Senators Edward Kennedy and Paul Wellstone who have voiced objections to the resolution.

The White House is expecting to get the Iraq resolution from Capitol Hill by overwhelming numbers in the House and the Senate; and is of the view that this will send the necessary message not only to Iraq but to allies and most importantly, to the major powers in the United Nations Security Council. But opponents of the resolution in the House are predicting that as many as 100 lawmakers — or more — in this chamber will oppose the resolution.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Central Intelligence Agency, George Tenet, has warned that Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein "probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist action'' if he was sure of a military attack on his country by the United States.

In a letter released by the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mr. Tenet has argued that even without American military action "Iraq's increasing support to extremist Palestinians, coupled with growing indications of a relationship with the Al-Qaeda suggest that Baghdad's links to terrorists will increase''.