Vice President Dick Cheney said mounting congressional opposition to the war in Iraq won't stop the administration from deploying more U.S. troops to bring sectarian violence under control. Cheney said critics, particularly Democrats in Congress who've called for the U.S. to begin withdrawing from Iraq, are validating the view of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden that America ``doesn't have the stomach'' for a drawn-out conflict. ``Iraq is the current, central battlefield'' in the war against terrorists, Cheney said on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program, repeating the stance he and President George W. Bush have held since the start of the conflict almost four years ago. The U.S. ``cannot run a war by committee,'' Cheney said.
Cheney's appearance was part of an administration effort to halt the slide in support for the war and to buy time for the strategy Bush announced Jan. 10, which includes adding 21,500 soldiers and Marines to the 132,000 U.S. military personnel already in the country. Some of their Republican allies in Congress, such as Senators Norm Coleman of Minnesota and Sam Brownback of Kansas, have joined with Democrats in opposition to the increase.