Following appearances today by General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, before the House Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill issued the following statement:
“When President Bush asked the American people in January to support a new way forward, he said this surge was going to be about giving the Iraqi people a chance to stabilize. He set forth himself in that speech in January nine benchmarks that he said he would hold the Iraqi government accountable for.“Unfortunately, so far, we have not heard enough about why these benchmark aren’t being met, and why is it that we have been able to sacrifice as a country now on the ground for longer than our troops fought in World War II, why is it that the Iraq government cannot take meaningful steps towards securing their own country and living with each other.
“I think there is some good news in what General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker have said today – the fact that they acknowledge that drawing down troops is the right way to go.
“But unfortunately, I don’t think there has been enough conversation yet about something other than the two extremes. I don’t think any of us in Washington want an expeditious drawdown of all our troops in Iraq. And on the other hand, I don’t think most people in American want us to continue to stand in the middle of a civil war. I think there is something in between. I will look forward in the hearing tomorrow, I will look forward to questioning General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, as I know many other senators will, about what would be in between.
“I think the logical thing is to change the mission, to change our mission from securing Iraq and providing stability to that nation to what we really should be doing which is fighting terrorism. We should be fighting terrorism in Iraq with our troops on the ground, but at a much lower level than we have now. And we should be refocusing our troops in other areas of the world where terrorism continues to be a problem, and in fact is growing because we are bogged down in Iraq. There is a better way than what we are doing now.
“I think that General Petraeus – although I think he is an honorable man, and I think both he and Ambassador Crocker are giving their best judgment – they own this strategy on behalf of the commander-in-chief, and they are obligated to defend it. I think there has to be somewhere in between the president’s stubborn opinion that nothing should change and the position of some on the left who believe everything has to change tomorrow. We’ve got to find that middle ground. It’s important to the American people, it’s important to the men and women risking their lives.â€
September 10th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
If we stay people die, and if we leave more people die and come under Sharia law. It really is a quagmire and the reason we went there was because of the military industrial complex, that being we need an enemy in order to justify our budget. And maybe also because our foreign policy echoes to Teddy Roosevelt’s gunboat style. I really don’t have an answer except maybe we should finish yet another mess we started. Hey, we are on friendly terms with Vietnam now, right?
September 11th, 2007 at 1:44 am
i watched and liistened to today’s testimony too. ike skelton provided an atmosphere hostile to change. why doesn’t anyone cop up the the fact that this is not a reduction, but a return to pre-surge levels that is tantimount to a conitnual occupation?
September 11th, 2007 at 9:23 am
McCaskill is just plain WRONG. We DO want an immediate end to this illegal war. It has and will continue to be a quagmire. Our prescence as an occupying force is making matters worse. McCaskill is playing it safe politically and going along with the party bosses AS USUAL. How patient would she be if it was HER CHILD being drafted to go to the front lines in Iraq?! I’m tired of these false patriots eager to send other people’s children to war while not sending their own. If they were sharing the risk–the war would end yesterday. The longer we stay the worse the quagmire. We can’t fix this by keeping troops there. The only reason the politicos keep the war going (Dems and Republicans alike)–is TO STEAL THE OIL. TIME TO RECALL ALL THE BUMS AND SEND THEM TO IRAQ.
K. Rothman
September 11th, 2007 at 11:06 am
And the opposition would say that by withdrawing what will occur is a similar massacre which happened after the Vietnam withdrawal. But given the sectarian hatred, we could see a Khmer Rouge style incident or another Pol Pot which makes Saddam look like a school boy. Whether I agree personally doesn’t matter. What is the counter to that argument?
September 12th, 2007 at 9:06 am
Newsflash Doug,
There will be a bloodbath whether we stay or whether we go. Sectarian violence and would be dictators encouraging such sectarian violence have been part of the history of the middle east. If we had remained in Nam, for example–to ‘avoid’ the bloodbath–we’d STILL be there and the killing fields would continue. Instead we now have a Vietnam that has grown and prospered. Our continue prescence will not prevent any such massacres. Furthermore, unless YOU are willing to take the place of a soldier already there; you have no right to insist on a continuation of this illegal war being fought by children of poor and working poor families. Until liberals like you are willing to share the sacrifice and serve yourself; you cannot claim the moral highroad. In any case; it doesn’t matter what the opposition has to say, the war is illegal and the rights of our fellow citizen soldiers come before the political hawks suddenly screaming about humanitarian concerns regarding a massacre they claim will occur if our troops leave. If the hawks were SO concerned about ‘humanitarian needs,’ the war would NEVER HAVE STARTED. OUR POLITICAL LEADERS CAUSED THE SLAUGHTER OF OVER 600,000 IRAQI CIVILIANS. OUR TROOPS HAVE SERVED AS ORDERED, THIS ISN’T THEIR FAULT–IT’S THE FAULT OF OUR POLITICIANS WHO MADE THE DECISION TO ATTACK ANOTHER SOVEREIGN NATION. THE IRAQI PEOPLE ARE NOT A BUNCH OF INGRATES; THEY ARE MORE THAN ABLE TO REBUILD THEIR SOCIETY. IRAQ IS NOT AFGHANISTAN. IRAQIS IN THE CITIES HAD COLLEGE EDUCATIONS AND PLENTY OF EXPERTISE. OUR CONTINUED PRESCENCE ONLY MAKES MATTERS WORSE. IF YOU ARE SO CONCERNED ABOUT A POTENTIAL MASSACRE THEN LET THE MODERATE ARAB NATIONS ASSIST THE IRAQIS. AGAIN, OUR CITIZEN SERVING IN IRAQ COME BEFORE CITIZENS OF ANOTHER NATION. YOU DON’T CORRECT A WRONG WITH ANOTHER WRONG.
CITIZEN SOLDIER