Reply #13: White House Was Going To Ignore Congress Altogether [View All]

White House officials argue that the decision to launch intensive consultations with Congress and U.S. allies about how to bring about the administration's goal of a regime change in Baghdad was neither a dramatic change of heart nor a sudden retreat in the face of two weeks of damaging coverage about internal divisions and charges of unilateralism.

Administration officials said yesterday there was never any serious consideration given to avoid consulting Congress, despite an interpretation by White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales that Bush has all the authority he needs, from the 1991 resolution authorizing his father to go to war against Iraq, to mount a military campaign to depose Hussein.

Though some White House officials - Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, among them - were privately squeamish about the idea of taking the case on Iraq to Congress, there was no significant opposition in the White House, officials said. "The inclination has always been to consult and we gave fairly serious indications of that," said a White House official.

Although Bush has used the words "consultation" and "debate," senior officials repeatedly say he has not made up his mind yet on an Iraqi invasion, nor has he indicated what he might ask for in a congressional resolution.

Kerry said the administration's challenge is great now as a result of its own mistakes. "They've crisscrossed the rhetorical landscape in a way that's left them with an unfocused rationale and created their own problem of credibility now on why it is they need to proceed," he said."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0906-05.htm