Analysis: Republicans facing tough elections are questioning Bush's policies on Iraq

WASHINGTON Any other time one would expect Republican lawmaker Curt Weldon to be an unwavering supporter of President George W. Bush's Iraq policy. After all, just this summer the Pennsylvania congressman was saying the jury remains out on whether Iraq still holds weapons of mass destruction.

But Weldon, vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is desperate to hold onto his seat in the Philadelphia suburbs. He is sounding more like a Democrat — and the increasing number of dissident Republicans who are talking about a timetable for bringing the troops home.

The 10-term incumbent is preparing this week to file a nonbinding resolution that says a milestone-based approach with criteria determined by military officers should be used by Bush to determine when troops should be withdrawn from Iraq.

Weldon's proposal is not as far-reaching as some that Democrats have proposed, but it's still questioning Bush policies. He is one of many Republicans facing a tough November election who are giving voice to the idea that the war is not going well.

Their comments two months before the Nov. 7 general election could be politically tricky. They come as the Bush administration advocates a hard-line, for-us-or-against-us stance on the war. Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that someone who supports withdrawing troops "validates the strategy of the terrorists."

Polls show that about six out of 10 Americans think invading Iraq in 2003 was a mistake.

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