Senators Find Common Ground With Anti-Terror Caucus

WASHINGTON — Now that the political debate on the war in Iraq has broken down into bitter partisan acrimony, some lawmakers are finding common ground in the wider war against Islamic terrorism.

Yesterday, Senator Kyl, a Republican of Arizona, announced that Democratic and Republican senators will form a new anti-terror caucus on Monday to begin educating fellow lawmakers on subjects ranging from the Sunni Salafist ideology espoused by Osama bin Laden to Iran's nuclear threat.

In a letter to colleagues on February 5, Mr. Kyl and Senator Lieberman, an independent of Connecticut who caucuses with the Democrats, said the new caucus will focus largely on providing senators with "guest speakers, documentary screenings, and other events."

"From 9/11 to the Iranian nuclear program, Islamists have given us every reason to believe that they mean what they say. Militant Islamism, in either its Shia or Sunni variant, poses a serious danger to American national security, and our way of life," the senators wrote.

Messrs. Kyl and Lieberman are also co-chairmen of the new Committee on the Present Danger, the third iteration of a panel formed originally to educate the public about the threat posed by the Soviet Union.

The Senate's new anti-terror caucus will be working closely with that committee. In the coming weeks, the committee will sponsor a talk by a historian of Islam and the Middle East at Princeton University, Bernard Lewis, for lawmakers in a closed-door session.

The House already has its own anti-terror caucus. On January 30, Rep. Bud Cramer, a Democrat of Alabama, and Rep. Sue Myrick, a Republican of North Carolina, unveiled their chamber's caucus, which 20 Democrats and 47 Republicans have since joined.

"It's clear that many members who do not serve on military, homeland security, or intelligence committees want to be more engaged on this important issue, and we're giving them that opportunity," Mr. Cramer said at a press conference at the time. "With a better understanding of the factors surrounding Islamic terrorism, Congress will be able to provide better oversight on the broader war on terror and make more informed decisions on how our nation should proceed."

Rep. Jim Cooper, a Democrat of Tennessee, said yesterday: "I joined the congressional anti-terrorism caucus for the same reasons my colleagues on both sides of the aisle did. Understanding terrorism is a nonpartisan issue. Learning how to fight terrorists is a nonpartisan undertaking. The experts we talk to are not partisan thinkers."

One of those thinkers is a professor at Johns Hopkins University, Mary Habeck, who addressed the House caucus in January. Ms Habeck is the author of "Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror."

Yesterday, Mr. Kyl said one of the major challenges facing the Bush administration is its failure to communicate the nature of the Islamic threat. He conceded that he and Mr. Lieberman cannot yet agree on an appropriate term for the enemy, but Mr. Kyl said calling it "the ‘war on terror' is not appropriate."