Top Democrat Says Bush Administration Signals Possible Exit Strategy (CBC.ca) Last Updated Mon, 15 Aug 2005 08:28:43 EDT


A leading Democrat says Bush administration officials are playing down expectations for a successful democracy in Iraq in order to signal a possible exit strategy.

"They have squandered about every opportunity to get it right," Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Sunday. "The bottom line is, they are significantly lowering expectations." Biden's comments, on NBC's "Meet The Press," came as Iraqi leaders worked to complete a new constitution before Monday's deadline for parliament to approve the charter.

Biden said he has seen no evidence the Sunni-led insurgency in Iraq is losing steam as a political force, as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has recently said.

Both Biden and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said it is premature for the United States to begin plans for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

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