[Anyone] sinkin' ship:

[Thos Myers]

Please note paragraph 8:
> Mr. Domenici is up for re-election next year, and his views on the war
are likely to figure prominently in the campaign."

                           G.O.P. Support for Iraq Policy Erodes Further

By CARL HULSE

WASHINGTON, July 5 — Support among Republicans for President Bush’s Iraq policy eroded
further on Thursday as another senior lawmaker, Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, broke
with the White House just as Congressional Democrats prepared to renew their challenge to the
war.

“We cannot continue asking our troops to sacrifice indefinitely while the Iraqi government
is not making measurable progress,” said Mr. Domenici, a six-term senator who has been a
steadfast supporter of the president.

Thus Mr. Domenici joined a growing number of Republican voices in opposition to the war just
as Senate Democratic leaders are readying plans to put the political and policy focus back on
Iraq next week.

The Democrats intend to use a Pentagon policy measure to force votes on proposals limiting
spending on the conflict and setting a timetable for withdrawing most troops by next year —
an idea Mr. Bush has already vetoed.

Mr. Domenici made it clear Thursday that he did not support such measures either, saying,
“I’m not calling for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq or a reduction in funding for our
troops, but I am calling for a new strategy that will move our troops out of combat
operations and on the path to continuing home.”

Still, within hours after Mr. Domenici spoke to reporters in a conference call, Senator Harry
Reid, the Nevada Democrat and majority leader, called on him to join Democrats and
like-minded Republicans to bring the war to a close.

“Beginning with the defense authorization bill next week, Republicans will have the
opportunity to not just say the right things on Iraq, but vote the right way, too,” Mr.
Reid said, “so that we can bring the responsible end to this war that the American people
demand and deserve.”

Mr. Domenici is up for re-election next year, and his views on the war are likely to figure
prominently in the campaign. His turnabout followed similar calls for a new Iraq policy last
week by Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations
Committee, and by Senator George V. Voinovich of Ohio, another member of that panel. Senator
John W. Warner of Virginia, a respected Republican voice on military issues who is also
facing re-election, has also been pressing the administration to shift course.

Despite the mounting Republican criticism, it is by no means certain that Democrats have the
votes to impose specific policy changes. Mr. Domenici and the other Republican critics are
resisting any cutoff of money for Iraq operations, and they differ among themselves on what
the United States should do in Iraq.

On the Democratic side, some lawmakers continue to resist mandatory withdrawal timetables
while others suggest that they will support only measures that end spending on the war.

Still, prominent defections could free more Republicans to break ranks, particularly after
lawmakers have spent a week at home attending Fourth of July observances and hearing from
constituents.

“When you have senior, well-respected Republican senators like Dick Lugar, John Warner and
Pete Domenici all calling upon the administration to pursue a new strategy, it is
significant,” said Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican also up for re-election next
year.

She said her talks with voters convinced her that the war remained the top issue. And she
joined Mr. Domenici in saying the patience of many Republicans with the Iraqi government was
virtually exhausted. “It is very troubling to many of us that the Iraq government appears
to be making little or no progress toward political reconciliation,” she said.

At the White House, which has been urging Republicans to be patient, officials tried to play
down the significance of Mr. Domenici’s remarks. Tony Fratto, the deputy press secretary,
said calls for a new strategy would not necessarily help Democrats in a quest for change.

Yet Mr. Fratto suggested the president was already thinking about a change. “It should come
as no secret to anyone that there are discussions about what is a post-surge strategy,” he
said. But he added, “We would counsel a little bit of patience.”

While some Republicans are slipping away, Mr. Bush retains a core of support among
conservatives in the House and Senate. And even some of the others who face tough campaigns
next year, like Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota, have indicated they intend to wait until
September to decide on their continued support for administration policy. A first report on
the progress of a troop buildup in Iraq is due July 15, followed by others in September.

Senator John McCain of Arizona, a strong supporter of the war, has spent some of the
Independence Day recess in Iraq with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. They are
expected to share their observations, though aides said that major changes in their positions
were not expected.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call from Albuquerque, Mr. Domenici said his change of
heart came after conversations with the families of New Mexico soldiers killed in Iraq who
asked him to do more to save those still serving there.

“I heard nothing like that a couple of years ago,” he said. “I think that’s the
result of this war dragging on almost indefinitely.”

Mr. Domenici said he would push for legislation that essentially enacted the recommendations
of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which called for military operations to be shifted more
to counterterrorism, training of Iraqi forces and protection of American personnel and
facilities. The goal would be to allow most combat troops to be withdrawn by March.

The Iraq Study Group proposal does not go as far as many Democrats would like. The leadership
is planning to move ahead with as many as four proposals, including a retooled plan by the
Democratic senators Carl Levin of Michigan and Jack Reed of Rhode Island that would require a
withdrawal to begin within 120 days, with most troops ordered out by next spring.

No decision has been made yet on whether the study group’s plan will be considered by the
Senate. Democrats are expecting votes on a plan by Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, to
impose new troop-readiness requirements, another to eliminate spending on combat operations
next spring, and perhaps a proposal to rescind the original 2002 authority for the war.