Senator Russ Feingold

Feingold makes a lot of sense. Too bad he's not running for President.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Russ Feingold's call for troops to withdraw from Iraq has helped set him apart from other potential presidential candidates. But he said Thursday he believes in a "muscular" response to terrorism and it would be wrong to categorize him as an anti-war candidate.

"I've never been anywhere near one-dimensional on these issues," Feingold, D-Wis., said in an interview. "I think that I've become — I hope — a credible spokesman for a muscular view of anti-terrorist activity by the Democrats as well as the country. The fact is, I've never been just an anti-war guy."

Feingold made the remarks as he prepared to introduce a Senate resolution calling for the U.S. to strengthen its efforts in Afghanistan, where Taliban militants have stepped up attacks this year.

"To some extent, we gutted our capacity to finish the job in Afghanistan, and allowed the Taliban and others to come back in by putting too much emphasis on Iraq," Feingold said.

...Last year, Feingold was the first senator to call for a timetable to bring troops back from Iraq. This year, he teamed with Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, the party's 2004 presidential nominee, on a proposal that would have required troops to leave Iraq by July of next year.

"It is time to tell the Iraqis that we have done what we can do militarily," Feingold said during debate over that proposal, which failed on an 83-13 vote.

Feingold said he's no pacifist.

"Absolutely not," he said. "I believe in the right of self-defense" — including the invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "I believe what we did in Iraq had absolutely nothing to do with self-defense."

Feingold's criticism of the Bush administration on Iraq and other issues has won him support. But he said he sometimes make his audiences uncomfortable when he talks about a need to "drop bombs" on people like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an al-Qaida leader in Iraq killed in a U.S. airstrike in June.