Support For Iraq Strike Crumbles
Congressional support for a military attack on Iraq was taken for granted two weeks ago, but it was crumbling and in danger of collapsing altogether, CBS News Capitol Hill correspondent Bob Schieffer reported Wednesday.
Schieffer said Republicans were concerned that the administration has not thought through what to do after a bombing campaign, while Democrats are reportedly wary of handing the President a blank check that could lead to another Vietnam.
On Capitol Hill, President Clinton's senior foreign policy team unsuccessfully pressed for congressional support for airstrikes.
A group led by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and about a dozen other Republican senators. The administration doesn't really need a congressional vote to authorize military action, but the president is seeking a vote of confidence.
In the Gulf, meanwhile, Defense Secretary William Cohen visited the aircraft carrier USS George Washington Wednesday to pump up pilots, sailors, and Marines who could be on the cutting edge of the military operation against Iraq, now dubbed "Operation Desert Thunder."
"You are the steel in the sword of freedom. You are the tip of the sword," Cohen told hundreds of sailors assembled in the huge warship's hangar bay.
Cohen told the sailors that Saddam Hussein has lied, cheated, and deployed weapons of mass destruction and, unless he meets U.N. demands, faces a military strike.
In Washington, the State Department dismissed an Iraqi proposal to open eight presidential complexes for what Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said could be an inch-by-inch search.
"We have yet to hear about a concrete Iraqi offer to reverse course and allow the U.N. inspectors the access to do their jobs," spokesman James Rubin said. "This latest iteration appears to fall short again of this very simple standard."
"Our battle group is ready to go," said Rear Adm. Michael Mullen, the commander of the George Washington's nine-ship armada. "We hope to be an instrument of peace."
The admiral said the aircraft on the ship have been flying 80 to 120 sorties a day and are capable of doing more.
Cohen was heading to Moscow Wednesday to meet with Russian officials, who are seeking a diplomatic compromise on the standoff with Iraq. President Boris Yeltsin has warned that the U.S. could spark a world war by attacking Baghdad.
In other developments:
- In the Gulf, Vice Adm. Thomas Fargo, the commander of the fifth fleet, says his ships have been fully loaded with enough armaments and precision-guided missiles to maintain a sustained air campaign against Iraq.
- Gen. Anthony Zinni, commander of U.S. Persian Gulf forces, says "a few more pieces" of the American military buildup are still on their way to the region and are expected "within a week or so." Askehow Saddam should feel right now, the general replied curtly, "Nervous."
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