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Domenici is the latest to break with the President over the war.
Politico is a blog, strictly speaking, but they seem to have the story straight.In Albuquerque today, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), a six-term incumbent who faces reelection next year, said he was "unwilling to continue our current strategy" in Iraq. The announcement follows the split of two other high-profile Republicans with the president over his handling of the war. Last week, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) called on Bush to start withdrawing troops. Domenici did the same today by endorsing a Senate bill that would adopt recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, which calls for a draw down of most troops in Iraq. "I have carefully studied the Iraq situation, and believe we cannot continue asking our troops to sacrifice indefinitely while the Iraqi government is not making measurable progress to move its country forward, Domenici said in a statement. I do not support an immediate withdrawal from Iraq or a reduction in funding for our troops. But I do support a new strategy that will move our troops out of combat operations and on the path to coming home. This means that political support for the surge among key Republican incumbents has essentially collapsed. The Senate will once again revisit the war during the debate next week over the 2008 Defense department appropriations bill. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Domenici and others should back up their critiques with votes. Senator Domenici is correct to assess that the Administrations war strategy is misguided," Reid said in a statement. "But we will not see a much-needed change of course in Iraq until Republicans like Senators Domenici, Lugar and Voinovich are willing to stand up to President Bush and his stubborn clinging to a failed policy and more importantly, back up their words with action. Beginning with the Defense Authorization bill next week, Republicans will have the opportunity to not just say the right things on Iraq, but vote the right way too so that we can bring the responsible end to this war that the American people demand and deserve." And so on. Basically, Reid is inviting Domenici, Voinovich, and Lugar to save their political tails by aiding the Democrats in squelching the surge. The only chance Bush had to give the surge a chance to make a difference was to run out the clock until the primary season begins in earnest in January 2008. Up until now, he had a chance; now that becomes nearly impossible. I have no idea what happens next, but I have this image in my head of Saigon, 1975. Posted by: Jonathan 2007-07-06 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=192729 |