Santorum's doubts on war documented

Aides to Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum produced a transcript yesterday of a 2004 interview in which he voiced "concerns about tactics and decisions" in the Iraq war - after saying earlier that they could not document the senator's claim he had publicly questioned the war.

Santorum's independence from the Bush administration on Iraq has emerged as an early issue in the 2006 Senate race, with leading Democratic opponent Robert P. Casey Jr. accusing Santorum of "not asking the tough questions."

In an Aug. 19 interview with The Inquirer, Santorum said he had been critical of war tactics in private conversations with the White House and in public. His aides later said, however, they could not locate any of those public statements.

The transcript of Santorum speaking last Sept. 21 at an impromptu news conference outside a private luncheon of GOP senators in Washington was overlooked during a search of an electronic database and office files, spokesman Robert Traynham said.

"There are concerns - I have concerns - about tactics and decisions that were made," Santorum said, according to the transcript, made by the Federal News Service. "I think you'd find a lot of Republicans who are very willing to second-guess our tactics in Fallujah, for example."

At the time, during the heat of the presidential campaign, several GOP senators had criticized the military decision to turn over security in Fallujah to poorly trained Iraqi troops after a U.S. invasion of the city in April 2004.

The criticism - that lack of a strong U.S. presence in Fallujah had allowed insurgents to regroup - came after several grisly suicide bombings there.

"And in my opinion, it was not the right call, but you know what? That's not my decision," Santorum said in the Sept. 21 news conference. At another point, he told reporters that too much "Monday morning quarterbacking" of military commanders would not help the war effort.

"This shows he is not afraid to stand up to the administration, or to say things could be better," said John Brabender, Santorum's media consultant.

The remarks did not appear in news stories at the time, Santorum aides said. "If Rick Santorum says something but nobody actually puts it in a newspaper, does that mean it didn't happen?" Brabender said.

A little more than two weeks ago, Santorum said in a National Public Radio interview that he had concerns about the conduct of the war, but he did not get more specific. Those comments show the delicate position he faces as the third-ranking Republican leader in the Senate.

In recent weeks, Casey, the state treasurer, has begun faulting Santorum on the war, noting that the senator was much more outspoken during the 1999 U.S.-led raids on Kosovo under President Bill Clinton - an operation that did not involve ground troops.

Casey campaign manager Jay Reiff said the transcript proves that Santorum is not asking broader questions, such as what the timeline is for training Iraqi troops to take over.

"Santorum has been MIA," Reiff said. "It took Santorum more than a week to dig up some year-old obscure quote that blames our military rather than challenging the administration's conduct of this war."

At the same time, Casey has said he would have voted for the war based on what was known at the time. He also has declined to sketch an alternative strategy for Iraq.

By Thomas Fitzgerald, Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug 30, 2005

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