Democratic Congressional Leaders Sent Letter To President Bush Opposing Troop Surge In Iraq; Shuffling Of National Security Players; House Democratic Leaders Trying To Rewrite Rules On Pet Projects
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And to our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where new pictures and information are arriving all the time. Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you today's top stories. Happening now, the new Democratic leaders in Congress are flexing their muscles on Iraq. They're warning Mr. Bush that a troop increase would be a huge mistake. We're following all the action after the power shift. The president's team is in transition before he shifts gears in Iraq. We'll take you inside the job changes. And I'll ask the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden, why he suspects the Bush administration already has given up on Iraq. And Arnold Schwarzenegger begins a new term as governor as a broken man, literally. The California Republican had to use crutches at his inaugural ceremony. But his political health appears to be very strong, in part because he sees green. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Just one day after Democrats take control of Congress, they're taking the gloves off. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid delivered a preemptive strike against a possible troop increase in Iraq. They sent a letter to President Bush saying any such surge option, as it's been called, has already been tried and it has failed. Mr. Bush today formally announced an Iraq-related personnel shift. He's nominating retired Vice Admiral Mike McConnell as his national intelligence director. He'll replace John Negroponte, who's moving into the number two job over at the State Department. Our White House correspondent, Ed Henry, and our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, are standing by. But let us begin our coverage this hour with our Congressional correspondent, Dana Bash -- Dana.</s>DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it is day two of the new Democratic Congress and already, as you said, the Democratic leaders are laying down their marker on the issue they say over and over again swept them into power, and that is the Iraq War. They sent a letter today to the president. That is, the new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. And they make clear that they are opposed to any surge in U.S. troops in Iraq, as the president is considering, because they said that's a strategy that he's already tried and that has failed, trying it again would be a serious mistake.</s>SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: The surge is a bad idea. The president said he was going to listen to his commanders. If he's listening to his commanders, he can't do this. I know he's shuffling some in and out, obviously, because they're not telling him what he wants to hear. But he -- what he needs to hear is the present situation in Iraq is deteriorating before our eyes and a surge will not help.</s>BASH: Now, what Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are arguing for is something that we have heard also for quite a while, is that troops should not be going into Iraq, rather, they should be coming out. And that they should start a withdrawal at the White House, at the Pentagon, in about four to six months. Now, again, we have heard that message before. But it is something that is -- has a new kind of importance, if you will, given the fact that this is -- it's clear now that Congress is going to add some heightened scrutiny to the White House when it comes to Iraq. And, Wolf, it's not just coming from Democrats. Republicans are being a lot more vocal about what they want to see in Iraq, too. Senator John McCain, the Republican from Arizona, and also likely presidential candidate, he came out today, as well, making clear what he wants. And what he said is that the idea of troops in Iraq should be -- is a good idea, more troops. He's been arguing for that for quite a long time. You would think that considering the fact that the president does -- is thinking about sending about 20,000 troops, we understand, that Senator McCain would be happy. But instead, what Senator McCain said is that the president should have more troops in Iraq and do it in a sustained way.</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: This troop surge be significant and sustained, otherwise don't do it. It has to be significant and sustained, otherwise, do not do it. Otherwise, there will be more needless loss of American lives. The worst of all worlds would be a small, short surge of U.S. forces. We've tried small surges in the past, and they've been ineffective because our commanders lacked the forces necessary to hold territory after it was cleared.</s>BASH: And, Wolf, Republicans are nowhere near united on this issue of troops in Iraq. You have other Republicans, like Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who recently went to Iraq with John McCain, who disagrees with him and says that she thinks that troops should not be added to Iraq and actually told the president that. So you have a lot of different voices, a lot of different opinions and ideas coming from Congress. But maybe the most interesting thing today was from Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who simply said that the president shouldn't listen to members of Congress, that he is the commander-in-chief and he should make his decision -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Joe Lieberman expressing his independent position, now that he is an Independent member of the Senate. Thanks very much, Dana, for that. Dana will be back in the next hour. Let's go over to the White House now, to the job shuffling and strategizing before the president's big Iraq announcement next week. We'll turn to our White House correspondent, Ed Henry -- Ed.</s>ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we're told that big speech will be a prime time address, likely next Wednesday night, when the president will call for something in the neighborhood of a surge of about 20,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq, as you heard Dana reporting tonight. Now, in advance of that speech, the president this afternoon just wrapped up a speech -- a private meeting with Democratic senators, part of what the White House feels is the consultation process. But over the next few days, that will be put to the test, as to whether this is real consultation or whether the president is just making the decisions here and ultimately will inform lawmakers in the end about what he wants to do. And I say that because coming out of this meeting Democrats like Senator Barack Obama said that they basically told the president a surge is a bad idea and various other lawmakers said it's really not a good option. Take a listen.</s>SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS: I think that sending more troops in rather than initiating some sort of phased withdrawal makes them feel as if we will be there to prop them up in perpetuity.</s>HENRY: Now, the president is dealing with another potential complication as he gets set to unveil the latest Iraq strategy, and that is what you mentioned, the shuffling of national security players. You heard Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, talking about generals being moved out. He's referring, first of all, to what we know, General John Abizaid being moved out as the head of Central Command. He's going to be replaced by Lieutenant General Petraeus. General George Casey, as you know, who has been the lead commander on the ground in Iraq, he's going to be out, as well, replaced by Admiral William Fallon. Casey, though, will stay on at the Army and be Army chief of staff, we're told. Meanwhile, the president today made official what we knew yesterday, which is that he's going to be shifting John Negroponte from the director of national intelligence office over to the State Department to be the number two official. And he will be replaced by retired Vice Admiral Mike McConnell. Take a listen to the president.</s>GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: John Negroponte's broad experience, sound judgment and expertise on Iraq and on the war on terror make him a superb choice as deputy secretary of state and I look forward to working with him in this new post. The vigilance of the DNI helps keep the American people safe from harm. And Mike McConnell has the experience, the intellect and the character to succeed in this position.</s>HENRY: Now, Wolf, also, Democratic Senator Joe Biden today pointing out that he is going to be -- he released some of his witnesses, a list for some of those hearings that he will be kicking off next week, throughout the month, really pressing the administration, a sign of the fact that once the president unveils this new policy, it's going to be something that will come under heavy scrutiny from the Democratic Congress. He no longer has the Republican Congress to back him up -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: I just wanted to make a quick correction. John Abizaid, the Central Commander, he's going to be replaced by Vice Admiral Fallon.</s>HENRY: Yes.</s>BLITZER: And George Casey, the overall commander in Iraq, he's going to be replaced by Lieutenant General soon to be Four Star General David Petraeus. I just wanted to make sure we got that straight. The president -- when is he going to make, formally, these announcements? Do we know, Ed?</s>HENRY: Well, we're expecting, actually, right this hour Tony Snow is briefing the press. It's been delayed a couple of hours because we were told he was expecting to get some final word from the Pentagon exactly on these personnel changes being announced. So we expect this afternoon that we should have sort of final confirmation on it and then next week all these pieces will be put into place -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right, we'll watch it together with you. Ed Henry at the White House. He'll be back in the next hour, as well. Just ahead, we're going to talk about all these new developments in the war in Iraq with the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Democrat Joe Biden of Delaware. That's coming up. While the great surge debate, as it's being called, rages among political and military leaders, what do the American people think about adding additional troops instead of withdrawing them? For some answers, we'll turn, as we always do, to our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider -- Bill.</s>WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Wolf, there is a lot of anxiety here in Washington in anticipation of the president's speech next week, all because of one word.</s>SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The first official use of the sword came when the new defense secretary went to Iraq last month.</s>ROBERT GATES, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We've discussed the possibility of a surge and the possibility -- and the potential for what it might accomplish.</s>SCHNEIDER: The same day, President Bush was asked if he supports a surge in the number of U.S. troops in Iraq.</s>BUSH: I'm just interested in the Iraqis' point of view and then I'll report back to you, as to whether or not I support a surge or not. Nice try.</s>SCHNEIDER: Why surge? Why not escalate? Because surge sounds temporary. Waves surge and decline. Escalation sounds long-term. President Lyndon Johnson escalated the deployment of U.S. troops to Vietnam in 1965. That war did not end for another 10 years. Whatever you call it, sending more troops would provoke a political firestorm.</s>SEN. RICHARD DURBIN (D-IL), MAJORITY WHIP: I'm afraid that, in many instances, we are only sending targets, and not troops.</s>SCHNEIDER: Only 11 percent of Americans favor sending more troops. A majority wants to withdraw U.S. troops, either immediately or within a year. President Bush said...</s>BUSH: There's got to be a specific mission that can be accomplished with the addition of more troops before, you know, I agree on that strategy.</s>SCHNEIDER: Two military strategists defined that mission this way: "bringing security to Baghdad, the essential pre-condition for political compromise, national reconciliation and economic development is possibly only with a surge of at least 30,000 combat troops, lasting 18 months or so. The surge must come from the Iraqis, too, a point the president says he made to the Iraqi prime minister.</s>BUSH: I said that you show the will, we will help you.</s>SCHNEIDER: A State Department official has been quoted as saying: "Instead of a surge, it is a bump." Well, to quote the president, nice try -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right, Bill, thank you very much. Bill Schneider, Dana Bash, Ed Henry -- as all of you know, they are part of the best political team on television. And remember, for all the latest political news at any time, check out our Political Ticker. Go to CNN.com/ticker. There's a developing story happening out in Oakland, California. I want to turn to CNN's Fredricka Whitfield. She's got some details -- what do we know, Fred?</s>FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Wolf, we understand that both terminals at Oakland International Airport have been closed, in fact, evacuated, because of a security breach and now all the passengers in those terminals are being rescreened while they continue to look now -- authorities say they're looking for a man who simply bolted through the security check area. And now they are looking for that person. All incoming flights are allowed to land at Oakland International Airport, but all outbound flights are being grounded temporarily. It's causing a real mess just outside of the airport, on Airport Drive, as well, because that road has been closed, which means for a pretty serious backup there taking place -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Fred, we'll stay on top of this story with you. Thanks very much. And remember, stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security. Time for Jack Cafferty and "The Cafferty File" -- Jack.</s>JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Ah, the government. It boggles the mind. Mexican illegal aliens who gain legal status in the United States could collect Social Security for the time they worked here illegally. That's thanks to a deal the Bush administration made with Mexico. This could mean billions of dollars from Social Security going to illegal Mexican workers. The deal was actually reached back in 2004, but never made public until now. I guess they didn't want us to know about it. A seniors' advocacy group finally got the government to release the information by using the Freedom of Information Act. In order for this agreement to take effect, President Bush has to sign it and send it to Congress. They then have 60 days to vote on it or the deal becomes law. You might want to let your congressman or senator know how you feel about it. Social Security has unfunded liabilities in the trillions of dollars. We don't have enough money to pay our own citizens their retirement benefits. But President Bush saw fit to make a deal with his buddy, Vicente Fox, that he apparently didn't want anyone to know about, that would allow illegal Mexican aliens to collect U.S. Social Security benefits. Here's the question -- should Mexican immigrants who worked in the United States illegally be allowed to collect U.S. Social Security benefits? E-mail your thoughts to CaffertyFile@CNN.com or go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Jack, thank you. Jack will be back later this hour. Coming up, day two for the new Democratic Congress brings more action. We're going to go live to Capitol Hill to find out just what lawmakers did today. Plus, we're also going out to California, where the governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is inaugurated for a second term. But is his bipartisanship a model for national Republicans? Plus, the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden, says the White House effectively has given up on Iraq. I'll ask him about that statement when he joins us right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.