Simple Question on Iraq Dumbfounds Democrats

by Amanda B. Carpenter
Posted Dec 9, 2005

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) claimed this week she had not heard the stated position of Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D.-Md.) that it would be a disaster for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq—a position that sharply contrasts with her own call for U.S. troops to be removed within six months.

In a written statement released November 30 following President Bush’s speech on the Iraq War at the U.S. Naval Academy, Hoyer said: “I believe a precipitous withdrawal of American forces in Iraq could lead to disaster, spawning a civil war, fostering a haven for terrorists and damaging our nation’s security and credibility. I still believe we can—and that we must—achieve success in Iraq.”

The stark difference between Hoyer’s position and Pelosi’s has been noted in a front-page story in her hometown newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as in the Washington Times, the Washington Post, on CNN and on ABC.

But when I asked Pelosi directly to comment on Hoyer’s remarks, she claimed to be ignorant of them, and retreated behind the Democrats’ latest catchword on Iraq: “redeployment.”

Democrats discovered that advocating a U.S. “withdrawal” would fail when the House voted 403 to 3 on November 18 to reject a resolution calling for immediate withdrawal. (The resolution was sponsored by conservative House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, as a challenge to Democrats after Democratic Rep. Jack Murtha called for U.S. troops to be removed.) Since then, many Democrats have been using the term “redeployment” instead. Here are my exchanges with Pelosi and some other Democrats on the issue.