A shift in the works on Iraq?

Posted: Friday, October 06, 2006 4:48 PM by Elizabeth Wilner
Filed Under: White House, Security

From NBC's Libby Leist and Ken Strickland
On the heels of Senate Armed Services Committee chair John Warner's call yesterday for the Bush Administration to give the Iraqi government 90 days to reduce the sectarian violence, two Democratic colleagues of Warner's have stepped forward to shed some light on this development.

Carl Levin, ranking Democrat on Armed Services, said that Administration officials -- including President Bush himself -- are encouraging him and one other Senator to publicly make the case that the Iraqis have "a couple of months to resolve their difficulties and to reduce the violence." But Levin thinks that message would be "100 times" more effective coming Bush. "It's the Administration that's got to deliver that message. And the effect will be to force [Iraqi leaders] to take hold of their nation and to resolve their problems politically," said Levin. "I believe within the next few months that the Administration is going to finally reach this point... and I think that [Zalmay] Khalizad, our ambassador, already has."

Potential presidential candidate and Sen. Joe Biden (D), meanwhile, told reporters this afternoon that he's heard from top Senate Republicans that the Administration may eventually rely on the Iraq Study Group, led by James Baker and Lee Hamilton, as a means for changing course in Iraq while not appearing to cave into Democratic pressure. Biden, who has testified before the group, said he expects that by the end of the year, they will propose a strategy that differs from the Administration's current plan. He offered that he's "absolutely convinced and certain that there are very serious people" in the State Department and at the Pentagon "who in fact think something along the lines that we're talking about has to take place." He added that he hadn't heard from high-level Administration officials directly that they'd use the Iraq Study Group to change course, but that "several Republican Senators" told him that.

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Comments

Again we are seeing the Administration using Iraq as a political ping pong ball. All we have heard from the Pres is that we should "stay the courst". Now since they realize they are going to lose the Congress they suddenly let drop that they are going to give Iraq a set time to fix this problem. Once the election is over it will be back to the same old tune.

Brandon Makoroff, Los Angeles, Ca (Sent Friday, October 06, 2006 5:37 PM)

Things must really be terrible in Iraq if Bush is trying to get Senator Carl Levin, a fairly liberal Democrat, to leak out a White House position.

Stu, Saginaw, MI (Sent Friday, October 06, 2006 8:58 PM)

Bush is trying to have his cake and eat it too. He wants to look steadfast saying that American forces will stay until the jobs done, when in reality, he wants to cut and run like every other Democratic appeaser.

Kim Ritter, Crofton Md. (Sent Friday, October 06, 2006 10:33 PM)

Amen to Brandon's comment.

Jane, Southern Mississippi (Sent Friday, October 06, 2006 10:49 PM)

how many more americans are going to die in iraq because bush is now apparently looking for a way out. be bold do the right thing and bring our troops home NOW before any more die. if bush is looking for a politically way out to save face he will be responsible for every american death and injury...

mikeeg,abdn,wa (Sent Saturday, October 07, 2006 6:17 AM)

how many folks think politicians should be required to be drug tested?

mikeeg,abdn,wa (Sent Saturday, October 07, 2006 6:37 AM)

To the Grunt on the ground 'the End of the Year' may never arrive. I'd suggest that the 'High level Administration Officials' and the 'Iraq Study Group' spend a day outside of the 'Green Zone' and walk a couple of blocks in some combat boots. It may speed their time frame up a bit. At least it would give them a perspective on why our troops don't know who they are fighting or why. Shades of Vietnam all around.

Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa (Sent Saturday, October 07, 2006 11:55 AM)

Hey mikeeg,abdn,wa that is the best Idea ever. Let's have our politicians test for drugs. Because something is wrong up there. If you have to be drug tested to work at burger king, I thing you should have to be tested to run the country.

Frank Laurent (Sent Saturday, October 07, 2006 8:21 PM)

Why is our President flying and the country and spouting LIES about Democrats? “177 of the opposition party said, ‘You know, we don’t think we ought to be listening to the conversations of terrorists.’” Who are these mysterious people? White House Staffer can not name one! “Democrats take a law enforcement approach to terrorism. That means America will wait until we’re attacked again before we respond.” Has anyone EVER heard a Democratic Congressperson say "let's wait until we get attacked again"? Bush LIES! and the press let's him get away with it!

Jim Frego, Grants Pass, OR (Sent Sunday, October 08, 2006 7:35 PM)

The president and his Republican congressional supporters lack the courage to face the reality of the situation on the ground that Jack Murtha revealed last year. Instead they vilified him, and anyone who discussed a way out of Iraq, even though they knew it was as bad or worse than he described. Now that it really is hopeless, Bush still can't back down from his deceptive stance, and like a coward, is turning for a way out to the very Democrats that he claims will get us attacked again by the terrorists. Murtha is a truth teller and a great American hero. Bush is a cowardly liar who allowed American soldiers to die for his prideful folly.

Kim Ritter, Crofton, Md. (Sent Sunday, October 08, 2006 10:23 PM)

Be assured that the Bush administration under constent pressure from the U.S. energy industry, will craft a plan that reserves access to the Iraqi oil and natural gas fields and the services contracts to rebuild, maintain, and operate the Iraqi oil infastructure. The Production Sharing Agreements penned into the recently passed Iraqi Constitution satisfies both U.S. and British businesses as they continue the domination of those resources by foreign energy firms that has its genesis in the British Mandate of Iraq after World War! Upon reaching concensus that a "unified" Iraq with a central government which cannot sustain itself and put down the internal rebellion against both foreign occupying forces and a return to the hugely profitable revenue sharing accords of the last eighty years, oil executives within the United States will pressure the Bush administration to divide the nation into seperate sections making security in the oil rich regions easier and letting the unproductive areas desend into chaos. This was the cause for the invasion in the first place. It was just business after all.

Rober Pike, Santa Clarita, CA (Sent Monday, October 09, 2006 3:02 AM)

I agree that there are some negative indicators in Iraq. Has war ever been easy? War is hell, does that mean that you never do it? I don't think this group of bloggers would ever have let us finish WW I or II. What happens if we leave Iraq? What happened when we left Korea and South Viet Nam? Much worse killing and worse brutal leaders such as Kim Jong Il. We have the reputation for not finishing these conflicts, the US needs to finish this conflict. Iraq has not had enough time to fairly test its new governments. The US experiment in democracy took much longer than 4-5 years. There are many good things happening in Iraq, that is what I have heard from many soldiers who are on the ground in Iraq. There are many other good things in the reqion (Lybia giving up its weapons) which are too much to discuss here. If we do not fight terrorists overseas, then we will fight them on our own streets. Again, this is what the soldiers are telling me. That is why they are doing 2,3, and 4 tours of duty in Iraq. They believe in the value of this conflict more than most Americans.

Wade Hudman (Sent Monday, October 09, 2006 7:50 AM)

As if there were any question by thinking Americans that the war in Iraq was a necessity to "keep America safe": Senator Talent's pathetic response to Tim Russert's "if you knew then what you know now" question made it so clear that the Republicans continue to defend the indefensible. Our men and women are dying in Iraq, and it is an unforgivable situation given the absolute meaninglessness of their "mission".

Peter Caloger (Sent Monday, October 09, 2006 8:49 AM)

Warner & Biden are playing the roles of messenger boys for the Bush Administration in order to groom the US public for big changes to take place in Iraq next year - namely, the division of Iraq into 3 independent autonomous regions based upon religious affliation of the population in those regions. If they proceed, it will be a big gamble for the Bush Administration which I believe will not work in their favor. The Sunnis, in the center region, may not stand for oil wealth being controlled by Kurds in the north & Sheites in the south. The Civil War could intensify dramatically. On the other hand, the less likely senerio could unfold. Local populations could become content being in control of their own independent regions & peace could develop. US troop levels on the other hand would not change for the time being. This Administration is aware they must do something dramatic to change the status quo in Iraq before the elections of 2008.

Steve Janasik, Northern Wisconsin (Sent Monday, October 09, 2006 11:45 PM)

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