DEBATE MIGHT BEGIN FRIDAY.

Byline: Steven Thomma and Raja Mishra Knight Ridder Newspapers

With American armed forces in action overseas, House Republicans set aside their own suspicions about the timing of the military attack Wednesday and grudgingly agreed to postpone their move to impeach President Clinton.

They made the decision as air attacks were under way against Iraq and just 14 hours before the House was scheduled to start debating the proposed impeachment of a president this morning for only the second time in the nation's history.

Incoming House Speaker Bob Livingston, R-La., said it was uncertain when the House would begin the one or two days of debate before voting on impeachment. But he said it could start as early as Friday, and urged House members who returned to Washington from their Christmas recess to stay in town.

``We reserve our right to take our constitutional action,'' Livingston said, ``and reserve that right within the next two days to complete the business that brought us here.''

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., said he ``hoped we do not take up impeachment until the hostilities have completely ended.'' Pentagon officials refused to say how long attacks would last.

Postponing the debate and the vote on impeaching Clinton only delayed what appeared to be increasingly inevitable: that Clinton will become the second president ever impeached by the House and sent to the Senate for trial.

Indeed, as Clinton searched for a way to win over the shrinking pool of still-undecided House Republicans, his decision to launch the air attacks raised questions about his timing and motives among many Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.

And it appeared to aggravate the bitter partisan split in the House already punctuating the impeachment debate.

Although most Republicans, including outgoing House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., supported the military strikes, the heated complaints from others forced the Clinton administration to dispatch Defense Secretary William Cohen, CIA Director George Tenet and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Hugh Shelton to brief the entire House in a rare, closed-door session.

The House is scheduled to take up a resolution expressing support for the troops this morning. That decision was made Wednesday as Republicans voted to give Livingston full discretion over scheduling the impeachment debate.

Earlier, Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine, said there were three main reasons the attack was ordered Wednesday: the Tuesday report by a United Nations inspection team detailing Iraq's refusal to allow weapons inspections, the need to act quickly to maintain surprise and the coming of Ramadan, a monthlong Muslim holiday.

``I am prepared to place 30 years of public service on the line to say the only factor that was important in this decision is what is in the American people's best interest,'' Cohen said. ``There were no other factors.''

But with Clinton squeezed by time - he just returned from a Middle East peace mission Tuesday night and faced the impeachment debate today - his timing still came under harsh scrutiny.

The most significant came from Lott, who would be an influential voice if the impeachment issue passes the House and is sent to the Senate. There, he would have significant power over any deal that would censure Clinton and avert a trial.

``While I have been assured by administration officials that there is no connection with the impeachment process in the House of Representatives, I cannot support this military action in the Persian Gulf at this time,'' Lott said. ``Both the timing and the policy are subject to question.''

Rep. Tillie Fowler, R-Fla., said: ``This president is shameless in what he would do to stay in office. He will use our military and he will use our foreign policy to remain president. I do not put it past him.''

Others said there was no military reason to delay the impeachment proceedings.

Rep. Robert Barr, R-Ga., said the impeachment vote ``does not place any of our military lives at risk.'' Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla., said he saw no problem with impeaching the commander in chief while the military is in action. ``It's not so hard to chew bubble gum and dance at the same time,'' McCollum said. ``It's irrelevant whether there's bombing going on.''

Coming after months of demands that Clinton get tough with Iraq, the GOP criticism of the attack underscores the no-win vulnerability the president has lived with since his sexual affair with a former White House intern and his attempts to cover it up became public.

``The suspicion some people have about the president's motives in this attack is itself a powerful argument for impeachment,'' said House Majority Leader Richard Armey, R-Texas.

At the White House, spokesman Joe Lockhart refused to comment on the timing of the attack.

``The president of the United States makes national security decisions based on the recommendations of his national security advisers and on the best interests of the people of the United States,'' he said.

Others rose to defend the timing of the attack, including several prominent Republicans.

``I don't think it's a cynical ploy,'' said Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and the man who will be the main proponent of four articles of impeachment whenever the House starts considering them.

Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., noted the military operation had been planned before the impeachment debate was scheduled. ``It is not fair for anyone to say that there is any linkage between the president's problems with impeachment on the one hand and the bombing of Iraq on the other,'' Chafee said.

``Unfortunately, there's no good time to take this kind of action,'' said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. ``If I believed the only reason for the action taken was to get the public's mind off the current impeachment problems, then I wouldn't support it.''

Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., lambasted Republicans who questioned the attack.

``It is deeply dismaying that some members of Congress, even as our soldiers go into military action, cannot put down the political hatchet for even one day,'' Wexler said. ``They're so possessed with taking out Bill Clinton that they can't get beyond it, even for a day.''

With votes piling up against Clinton, the White House dropped any pretense that it could sit back and wait to respond to any proposals from Congress for a deal. In fact, it openly courted a censure deal that would avert impeachment.

``We continue to try to reach out across party lines to find a bipartisan solution or compromise to put this behind us,'' Lockhart said.

Clinton took small solace in the report that one Republican, Rep. Jay Kim of California, is leaning against impeachment. But he was otherwise left to appeal to two moderate Republicans who already had said they would support him.

At the invitation of Clinton aides, Rep. Amo Houghton, R-N.Y., met with the president at the White House on Wednesday. Houghton was preparing to propose a censure that would also require Clinton to pay a $500,000 fine, although House leaders said they will not allow a censure vote. Clinton also had scheduled a meeting with Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., who was backing away from his earlier opposition to impeachment.

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