Pence: Credit Bush For Iraq Success

One of the most popular conservative lawmakers in Congress is accusing the Obama administration of unfairly attempting to take full credit for the U.S.’ ability to pull combat forces out of Iraq.

In an op-ed in today’s Washington Times, Mike Pence (R-Ind.), chairman of the House Republican Conference, argues that President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are wrong to claim it was they who created an end to the war. “That’s not the whole story,” writes Pence.

However, in a primetime address to the nation tonight, Obama is expected to discuss his efforts to end America’s combat mission in Iraq, fulfilling a promise he made during his 2008 campaign.

According to Pence, most of the credit is owed to former President George W. Bush, who, with violence against NATO-led forces escalating, famously ordered a ‘surge’ of 60,000 American troops to Iraq in 2007. Pence wrote that contrary to the position of Democratic leaders in Congress at the time, Bush had “decided not to lose.”

Pence notes in his piece that then-Senator Obama opposed Bush’s surge and made remarks questioning whether sending additional forces to Iraq would improve the country’s condition. Along with then-Senator Biden, Obama voted 10 times to establish a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from the nation at war, writes Pence.

Republicans have generally been critical of Obama for invoking his predecessor’s name amidst debate over various issues during the past 19 months. Yet, Pence says he wouldn’t mind seeing that happen tonight.

“As the president addresses the nation tonight, let’s hope he gives credit where credit is due: to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces who wrought stability from tyranny and terrorism in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and, for once, let’s hope the president gives credit to a predecessor who refused to accept defeat.”

Congressmen urge Obama to reconsider troop surge in Afghanistan

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Today a league of congressmen sent a letter to President Obama asking him to reconsider his military policy in Afghanistan before committing 17,000 new troops in a surge. The letter said, “As the goals of our seven year military involvement remain troublingly unclear, we urge you to reconsider such a military escalation”. This letter came from a bipartisan group of 14 members of Congress.

Congressman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) said that he is “perplexed” by the president’s troop increase, considering that his administration has stated it is presently reviewing its strategy in Afghanistan. Congressman Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said that America is getting deeper into a “war without end” and that we need an exit strategy in Afghanistan.

Both Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) expressed concern on waging an endless war in such a time of economic peril. Kucinich said what the country needs is a healthcare surge, a home ownership surge, and an employment surge.

Gates on Iraq: We must get the endgame there right

“The surge helped achieve a lower level of violence. It has not yet achieved its stated purpose- political accommodation among Iraq’s leaders,” Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich) said in his opening statement at the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on the Situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Our “open-ended commitment in Iraq” is an invitation to “continued Iraqi dawdling and dependency,” and it’s carrying the costs of the lives of Americans and billions of dollars.

Senator John Warner (R-Va) expressed his respect for Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and said that he’d had the opportunity to work with every Secretary of Defense since 1969, and that “you never shot from the hip.” Gates, Warner said, understood that they needed bipartisan support and that Gates had it like Warner had never seen before. We thank you, Warner said, but there is much to be done. I commend the concept of the surge, he said, and I commend most heartily the courage of the troops. By any fair and pragmatic judgement, it has been a success.

The withdrawal of approximately 3,400 non-combat forces began this month, Gates began, saying that it will continue through the fall and winter, and finish in January. The drawdown is possible, he said, “because of the success achieved in reducing violence and building Iraqi security capacity.” There has been a fundamental change in the nature of the conflict, and “no matter what you think about the origins of the war in Iraq, we must get the endgame there right.”

In response to a congressional question of the assessment of the new government in Pakistan and their willingness to work with the United States, Gates said they're already seeing positive signs with Pakistan, because Pakistan has suffered a lot of casualties and they’ve captured terrorists. What’s important in Pakistan, is to forge a new stronger partnership with the civilian government. The recent attacks have made it clear to them that there is an existential threat to Pakistan.

Gates said he is not satisfied with the civil reconstruction and the development of the capacity of the Afghan government. “That war on terror started in this region, and it must end there.” The reality is, Gates continued, is that in the last 18 months, we have added over 20,000 troops to Afghanistan, and there are two considerations about the situation. One, we need to think about how heavy a “military footprint” the United States ought to have in Afghanistan, and are we better off channeling resources instead into “building the Afghan Army” as quickly as possible. Two, (which he says he feels is evident to all), is that without changing deployment patterns, and length of tours, we do not have the forces to send three additional brigade combat teams to Afghanistan at this point, but they will probably become available in the spring/summer of 2009. That’s a decision that will ultimately be up to President Bush’s successor.

Code Pink, an anti-war group, proliferated the audience, wearing “Bail out of Iraq” placards and multitudes of pink buttons, signs, and t-shirts. They mainly sat quietly in the audience, appropriately not holding signs above their heads, but at one point one member started calling out “shame!” during Gates’ speech.

McCain fears chaos, genocide

Americans’ energy concerns and the Iraq war were discussed by Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in Virginia. McCain said that the United States must lower its dependence on foreign oil by increasing its domestic production. He also called for continued research on alternative energy sources. McCain restated his support for a gas tax holiday, a measure that would lower gasoline prices by temporarily removing its federal taxes.

To increase domestic production, McCain said that he will soon call for a lifting of a moratorium that prohibits states from exploring for oil and natural gas reserves offshore. He added that states with reserves should be given incentives to produce, saying that increasing the percentage of revenue states receive is one possible motivation. McCain called ANWR “pristine” and said the he opposes drilling for oil in a region that was set aside as a wildlife reserve.

McCain emphatically declared that the United States is winning the war in Iraq, saying that President Bush’s troop increases have brought greater stability to the country, reduced Iranian influence, and allowed for the growth of Iraq’s democracy. McCain said that Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama’s advocacy for a withdrawal date and Obama’s statement that a troop surge would fail were wrong. McCain noted that Obama has not visited Iraq in over two years and, to gain a complete and thorough grasp of the military situation there, suggested that Obama meet with General Petraeus. McCain said that US troops should come home with victory and honor and that a quick exit could lead to chaos and genocide.

McCain repeated his desire to hold weekly town hall meetings with Obama until each party’s convention is held, saying that he will continue to reserve one day a week for such an event. McCain remarked that town hall meetings are the root of democracy and that these discussions would clearly show the differences between the two candidates. In reference to Sen. Obama's statement that small town Americans are bitter and thus turn to guns and religion, McCain maintained he would never suggest that people in small towns turn to guns and religion out of bitterness, telling those in small towns that his presidency would bring them a safe and prosperous nation.

Senators debate progress made in Iraq

The Senate Armed Services Committee today held a hearing focused on Iraq political reconciliation benchmarks. The Committee questioned Dr. Andrew Bacevich, General John Keane, and Dr. Robert Malley about issues concerning the progress made by the Government of Iraq, their thoughts about the statements made yesterday by General David Petraeus, and of course U.S. success since first entering Iraq.

Both Committee members, including presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and the panelists, were split on their views about U.S. progress in Iraq, particularly since the highly publicized "surge" in American involvement.

Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) discussed his feelings that we need to help make Iraq stable enough to function independently. "We cannot do for Iraqi's. They must do for themselves," Levin explained. Keane focused on the success the U.S. has had, describing Iraq in 2006 as "hell" and saying we are on the right course toward completely eliminating Al Qaeda forces in the northern part of the country.

McCain emphasized that pulling out of Iraq now would be the wrong choice for the U.S. to make.