Will the Bush Administration Bow to Public Pressure on Iraq War Policy?

Interview with Rahul Mahajan, journalist and author, conducted by Scott Harris

American voters went to the polls on Nov. 7 and sent a strong message about their anger over the increasingly bloody Iraq war. Near-record disapproval of President Bush's leadership on the war and domestic policy cost the Republicans control of the House and Senate where they had, since 2001, acted essentially as a rubber stamp for the White House.

With the post-election resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and a set of recommendations for change from the Iraq Study Group led by James Baker and Lee Hamilton, it appears that the president's "stay the course" policy in Iraq may soon be modified. But recent statements from Bush belie the conventional wisdom that change is coming. On Nov. 30, Bush rejected the idea that policy prescriptions from the Iraq Study Group would pave the way for a graceful U.S. exit out of Iraq.

With the Democrats taking charge of Congress in January, questions about how far the party will go to press for a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by wielding the legislature's power of the purse, are still largely unanswered. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with journalist and author Rahul Mahajan, who looks at the worsening civil war conditions in Iraq and the public pressure building on the administration for a rapid end to America's occupation there.

Rahul Mahajan is author of the book, "Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond," published by Seven Stories Press. Read Mahajan's commentaries online at: www.empirenotes.org

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