Clinton takes up guv’s proposal to de-authorize war

Now that President Bush has vetoed a funding bill that would have set a timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Sen. Hillary Clinton proposed Thursday that Congress repeal the authority it gave Bush to invade Iraq.

It’s not a new idea. In fact, Clinton’s opponent in the Democratic presidential primary, Gov. Bill Richardson, has been saying for quite some time that’s what should be done.

The New York Times gave Richardson credit, too. In today’s article about Clinton’s proposal, the Times notes that Richardson, “beating Mrs. Clinton to the punch,” sent out a news release Tuesday calling for the de-authorization of the war and a schedule for a rapid withdrawal of troops.

Score one for the underdog.

But the Times didn’t go back far enough. When Congressional Democrats began developing the proposal several weeks ago to tie war funding to a timeline for withdrawal, Richardson criticized the approach, saying Congress, instead of dancing around the issue, should clearly de-authorize the war and force Bush to bring the troops home. He was among the first to call for such an approach.

Richardson made sure to point that out in a news release from his presidential campaign sent late Thursday:

“As I said in my February speech to the (Democratic National Committee) and have repeated many times since, this is the best course of action,” he said. “… I welcome Senator Clinton’s endorsement of my approach, and I urge Congress to embrace this course of action and show the president that his defiance of the will of the American people and a vote of Congress will not stand.”

Clinton and Sen. Robert Byrd, D-Va., propose introducing a resolution that would de-authorize the war in October. Richardson said in his release that it should be done immediately.

It is sort of odd that Clinton, according to the Times, said she wants to “end this war as soon as possible,” and yet she wants to wait on a vote to de-authorize the war until Oct. 11 so the vote can coincide with the fifth anniversary of the original vote authorizing the war.

Either way, approval of such a resolution would set up quite a fight. It’s not clear whether de-authorization would mean Bush would have to withdraw the troops, the Times reports. Bush could claim that Congress can’t withdraw an earlier authorization and can only end the war by denying funding.

Knowing this president’s resolve – some would call it stubbornness – that’s exactly what he would do.

Such a fight could end up in court.

Update, 3:40 p.m.

I neglected to tell you earlier that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden began calling for a de-authorization and a new resolution that comes with limitations about the same time Richardson began calling for de-authorization.