Senator upbraids colleagues for dodging Iraq timeline

Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., criticized his Senate colleagues Monday for not including a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq in the fiscal 2006 emergency supplemental appropriations bill that funds military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Senate passed the spending measure last week.

Taking aim at his own party, the staunch war critic told a luncheon gathering at the National Press Club that Democrats too often cower in the face of partisan accusations of being soft on terrorism.

Feingold said that while "Democrats are good on domestic issues," when it comes to being the voice of dissent on national security, members have "a tendency to go back into the fox hole."

He called on Democrats to highlight the Bush administration's "odd and bizarre" Iraq policy, which he said might become a dominant campaign message for the November midterm elections.

Earlier this year, Feingold introduced a measure to censure Bush for authorizing domestic wiretapping without seeking court orders -- a program that members on both sides of the aisle have criticized as possibly illegal.

Senate Democratic leaders have been wary of Feingold's resolution, while some members of the party's liberal wing have supported it.

Acknowledging the lack of momentum for the censure measure, Feingold said during his speech, "Give me some time," and hinted that he might attempt to shift attention back to censure next year.

Feingold was sanguine about the Democrats' chances of winning the majority in either the House or Senate in November, but added being in the majority was not "the end all and be all" if the party cannot "do the right thing."

The Wisconsin Democrat, who is considering a 2008 presidential run, reminded the audience that both the resolution authorizing military action in Iraq and the USA PATRIOT Act were approved while Democrats held the majority in the Senate.

He said his party needs a cohesive voice on foreign policy issues -- most notably Iraq -- to "appeal to basic American values in a post-9/11 era."