WASHINGTON: "Nervous." That was the famously succinct answer from General Anthony Zinni, overall commander of U.S. forces in the Gulf, when asked how Saddam Hussein should be feeling in the face of a potential air strike. But it's also an apt description of the mood on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers, still in recess, are starting to have second thoughts about an Iraq attack.
A two-week old resolution supporting action, once destined for easy passage, is now seriously threatened by a lack of details from the White House. Already, three senators have withdrawn their support.
"It is quite clear that if the Clinton adminstration does something militarily, it will do it inadequately," said Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.), the first Republican to back down from the resolution. "Congressmen are torn between their desire to support the President as their commander in chief and their very serious concerns and reservations," explained Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz). Newt Gingrich was more specific: "What are the plans? What are the goals? Is the President prepared to pay for this?"
Indeed, the silence on what happens next is deafening. Zinni says his forces will be ready "in a week or so" but unlike the 1991 Gulf War, there is no deadline for action and no specific targets. Asked what the U.S. would bomb, Zinni elaborated beyond "what Saddam holds dear," his earlier comment, only to say "things that allow him to stay in power." That's hardly likely to satisfy Lott & Co. Unless more answers are forthcoming, it is the President who should be nervous about support on the home front.