Edwards bashes Bush plan

Following up on a nationally televised address he paid to give on Thursday night, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said in Las Vegas on Friday that the president's "so-called withdrawal" was "like President Bush taking credit for gravity."

The soldiers Bush has promised to bring home by the end of the year, Edwards said, would be coming back anyway. "The fact is, George Bush's policies have stressed our forces so much that he was already going to have to rotate 30,000 troops out of Iraq by next summer."

In addition, Edwards said, Bush's plan will leave more troops in Iraq next July than were there before the troop "surge" began.

The former North Carolina senator and former vice presidential nominee held a brief news conference at his campaign headquarters on Pecos Road on Friday morning, his first since a two-minute speech he gave on the MSNBC cable network to rebut Bush's television address Thursday on the war in Iraq.

Edwards' campaign reportedly paid more than $100,000 for the airtime so the candidate could speak as directly to the nation as the president did.

But Edwards' criticisms were not reserved for Bush. He also was sharply critical of the Democratic Congress that he said has not been tough enough in pushing Bush to end the war.

"Our troops are stuck between a president without a plan to end the war and a Congress without the courage to end it," Edwards said, adding, "The American people voted in November of 2006 to end this war. Ten months later, we still have the status quo. It's outrageous, and it needs to stop."

Edwards, who has the luxury of not having to cast Senate votes anymore, called on Congress, as he has in the past, not to submit military funding legislation to Bush that doesn't include a mandatory timetable for troop withdrawal. Earlier this year, Congress passed such a bill; Bush vetoed it; and Congress gave Bush a bill without a timetable, which he signed.

Now, Edwards said, "Bush asked Congress to cave to him once again and yield on a timetable for withdrawal." Congress, Edwards said, should refuse, using "every tool at their disposal, including a filibuster, to stop this president."

In urging Congress not to "compromise," Edwards used a word that has passed the lips of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in recent weeks. Asked whether he faulted Reid's leadership, Edwards declined to criticize the majority leader by name.

"I'd rather talk about the Congress and not some particular leader," Edwards said. "I have enormous respect for Senator Reid, and he's a friend and somebody that I admire and respect. ... What the Congress needs to do is to stand their ground against this president. He will not change course unless he's forced to change course."

A spokesman for Reid, Jon Summers, defended the senator's work. "The Democratic Congress has been working hard to change course in Iraq and bring a responsible end to the war," Summers said. "Despite the advice of military experts and the will of the American people, Republicans continue to put up roadblocks in an effort to stay the course of Bush's failed strategy."

Aides to Reid wouldn't say whether he will push for the firm timelines Edwards demands.

Although Edwards was specific about what he thinks Congress should do, he wouldn't answer several questions about the number of votes Congress would need to press Bush, saying he didn't want to talk about "process."

"That's what leadership is about," Edwards said. "The Congress needs to lead. The leaders in the Congress need to lead. If we need additional votes, the American people will get us those votes." He cited Republicans who have responded to the war's unpopularity and become openly critical of the war strategy.

Edwards' proposal to leave Iraq is to immediately remove 40,000 to 50,000 American troops to send a wake-up call to the Iraqi government. He would then spend about nine months removing the rest of the U.S. forces.

Edwards said Friday that he would "not leave any combat troops in the country, except for a small force to protect the embassy, and possibly to protect humanitarian workers."

While Edwards was in Las Vegas, his wife, Elizabeth, who is becoming known as much for her sometimes startling candor as for her courageous battle with recurrent cancer, was in Iowa, where she told the Des Moines Register that Gen. David Petraeus "doesn't deserve" to be labeled "General Betray Us," as a liberal group's ad did earlier in the week.

Democrats have sought to distance themselves from the MoveOn.org slogan, which Republicans denounced, without being too harsh and alienating the influential advocacy group.

Asked about the ad, John Edwards was less direct than his wife but agreed with the sentiment that Petraeus shouldn't be the one blamed for Iraq.

"I think General Petraeus has served the country long and admirably," Edwards said. "While I disagree with some of the things he says, at the end of the day, he reports to a commander in chief. He has a boss, and that boss is the president of the United States."