Clearly this address [that the president will make to the nation on Iraq] presents you with another opportunity to make a long overdue course correction. Despite the fact that our troops have been pushed to the breaking point and, in many cases, have already served multiple tours in Iraq, news reports suggest that you believe the solution to the civil war in Iraq is to require additional sacrifices from our troops and are therefore prepared to proceed with a substantial U.S. troop increase.
Surging forces is a strategy that you have already tried and that has already failed. Like many current and former military leaders, we believe that trying again would be a serious mistake. They, like us, believe there is no purely military solution in Iraq. There is only a political solution. Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain. And it would undermine our efforts to get the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own future. We are well past the point of more troops for Iraq.
"You did it once, it didn't work, why try it again?" As I've said before, a troop increase is a Hail Mary, not a strategy. It's what you do when you can't think of anything else.
Meanwhile, John McCain's on a big campaign to back a troop surge.
The Business Journal of Phoenix:
Arizona Sen. John McCain is countering critics of his support for more U.S. troops in Iraq, saying they are needed to stabilize security and that an American withdrawal would create chaos in the Middle East and embolden terrorists and their state sponsors.
McCain also is questioning what Democrats favoring a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would do going forward in the troubled and economically important region.
"What is their plan B if we just withdraw?" said McCain on a number of recent media appearances on the Iraq issue.
Plan B? What the hell is he talking about? Bush doesn't seem to have a plan B and neither does Sen. McCain. When the ship is sinking, John, you get in the lifeboats -- 'plan B' is irrelevant.
Putting a big crimp in this 'surge' plan A is that there aren't a lot of troops with which to surge.
Think Progress:
A State Department official leaked word this week that President Bush is considering sending "no more than 15,000 to 20,000 U.S. troops" to Iraq. "Instead of a surge, it is a bump," the official said.
This claim was bolstered last night by CBS's David Martin, who reported that military commanders have told Bush they are prepared to execute a troop escalation of just 9,000 soldiers and Marines into Iraq, "with another 10,000 on alert in Kuwait and the U.S."
I wonder what John McCain's plan B is for his presidential campaign? This whole 'surge' thing is almost guaranteed to be a fiasco and one of his democratic opponents, John Edwards, has already dubbed the troop escalation as McCain Doctrine. This whole thing is going to stick to him like chewed gum -- any democratic opponent will make sure of that.
Tags: news | politics | Bush | democrat | John McCain | Iraq | war | military | disaster
