Success of the Surge?
EmailABC News’ Z. Byron Wolf, Luis Martinez and Jon Garcia Report: The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee is calling for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to be replaced with a less sectarian leader that can bring about political reconciliation.
Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., who just returned home from a trip to Iraq, announced he has "crossed the Rubicon," and urged the Iraqi Parliament to hold a no-confidence vote on the Iraqi Prime Minister.
Levin said he saw first-hand that political reconciliation under Maliki’s government is not possible because the Iraqi Prime Minister is too beholden to sectarian and religious interests.
The White House reacted to Levin’s comments Monday, expressing confidence in the Maliki government.
"Iraqi leaders are meeting now to reach a political accommodation among the various parties," said National Security Council spokesperson Gordon Johndroe. "We believe that Prime Minister Maliki and the Presidency Council will be able to get this important work done, work that is being done on the local level where we see bottom-up reconciliation taking hold."
Earlier Monday, Levin released a joint statement with Sen. John Warner, R-Va., who also went on the Iraq trip, questioning whether the Iraqi government is up to the task of utilizing the "breathing room" created by the President’s troop surge plan.
"While we believe that the ‘surge’ is having measurable results, and has provided a degree of ‘breathing space’ for Iraqi politicians to make the political compromises which are essential for a political solution in Iraq, we are not optimistic about the prospects for those compromises," read the joint statement.
While both Senators have been critical of the troop surge plan in Iraq, they said they saw signs it may be working.
"We have seen indications that the surge of additional brigades to Baghdad and its immediate vicinity and the revitalized counter-insurgency strategy being employed have produced tangible results in making several areas of the capital more secure," Levin and Warner said.
Levin said the progress may lead to a troop reduction later this year to pre-surge levels and even further reductions by the middle of next year.
Levin and Warner note improvement by Iraqi security forces, but not enough improvement for the Iraqi military to act independently. The senators say they heard reports in Iraq of bureaucratic issues within the U.S. government which prohibited Iraqi forces from receiving badly needed equipment.
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Senator John Warner of Virginia is a disgrace to his home state. When opportunities have arisen for him to firmly confront Bush on failed policies, instead of lobbing verbal bombs, he blows puffs of vapor. He’s sponsored measures critical of Bush with no penalties. The Republicans have supported Bush like a bunch of well heeled dogs rather than act as represenatives of our nation. The state of Virginia needs to think about replacing Warner as he is not serving their best interests not the country’s. The Republicans have consistantly failed at foreign policy for decades and Senator Warner is one of the chief supporters. That’s all you can count on the Republicans for, consistant failure. Senator Warner’s lack of guts has made a mockery of his office. Unfortunately, his home state and the country has to suffer for his lack of vision as well. Iraq is a war that shouldn’t have been fought. Saddam Hussein is dead and what has changed? His death has only made things worse.
Posted by: John Siordia | August 20, 2007, 3:59 pm 3:59 pm
John S. We need a solution for the future and not rehash the past. You didn’t mention Sen Levins positive opservations (who also thought progress was being made with the tremendous efforts of our brave men and women in the Iraq) . Lets try to find common ground for a very difficult situation and look to the future and learn form mistakes made in the past. We must lay politics aside and work together.
Posted by: Phil Smith | August 20, 2007, 4:47 pm 4:47 pm
Phil,
I think you miss John S’s point. He calls out Senator Warner because he is an enambler to the crisis in Iraq. He talks a good talk but when it comes time to vote to change policies in Iraq he sides with the Republicans consistently and does not vote the will of the majority of the people. Senator Levin does. It’s not just about this coming “Patreaus Report” it’s about the whole process. And don’t forget the saying “those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them”
Posted by: D. Skinner | August 20, 2007, 5:03 pm 5:03 pm
I communicate daily with soldiers, sailors and marines who have been telling me for months that the Iraqi army is making significant progress in controlling their own destiny. Another key indicator is the fact that US support by Iraqi citizens continues to grow. Despite a long list of mistakes and lack of political will we may yet win this war.
Posted by: Johnny | August 20, 2007, 5:05 pm 5:05 pm
With all this focus on the here-and-now, All this Iraq stuff does and has always led me straight back to the Bush Administration’s filtering of intelligence that got us into this mess. They apparently WANTED this war and presented their brew of misinformation to the Congress and the American People.
When all is said and done, We’ve been DUPED. Even if this surge is working, it’s working in a war that we should have never fought.
We should have stayed in Afghanistan, where we would have had much better success fighting Terrorists, and civilians would have not been involved in the fight with the Terrorists.
Posted by: bushisafailure | August 20, 2007, 5:12 pm 5:12 pm
You forgot some crucial words from Chairman Levin:
[T]he whole purpose of the surge was to reduce violence so that the Iraqi leaders would have the breathing room to reach political settlement. That was the stated purpose of the surge.
Well, that purpose has not been achieved, even though the level of violence has been reduced in a number of areas. The purpose of the surge, by its own terms, was to have the — give the opportunity to the Iraqi leaders to reach some political settlements. They have failed to do that. They have totally and utterly failed.
[I]t is clear to me that the capability that the Iraqi military now has and will have by the end of this year will allow us to begin reducing U.S. forces significantly below our pre-surge level.
We should begin that reduction within four months. The increased Iraqi capability will also allow us to move most of our forces out of Iraq by the middle of next year and to transition the forces that need to remain to perform missions away from the civil war. […]
Posted by: Ajax the Greater | August 20, 2007, 5:13 pm 5:13 pm
Of course, Cheney et al will write the Petraeus Report: with the stooge forced to sign it. Petraus wouldn’t have been given the assignment in the first place, if he wasn’t found to be malleable, just like all the other stooges, such as Tenet and Powell, who find their tongue only AFTER they’ve resigned/been fired.
And Rove will continue control Bush, just under cover. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer is especially true where D.C. is concerned. What’s he’s doing to get ready and steal the 2008 election, we won’t know while he’s ‘with his family’. And the killing in Iraq continues.
Posted by: Alice Brown | August 20, 2007, 5:22 pm 5:22 pm
Lets be clear here. The Failed administration is hanging their hat on the fact they undercut the soveriegn government and made a side deal with the Sunni militia thus further discrediting and weaking the governmnet?
There is no more spin because there is no quorom. There IS NO GOVERNMENT.
Dying soldiers now are for the sole purpose of Bush’s shallow ego.
Posted by: Your Conscience | August 20, 2007, 5:22 pm 5:22 pm
“The purpose of the surge, by its own terms, was to have the — give the opportunity to the Iraqi leaders to reach some political settlements. They have failed to do that. They have totally and utterly failed.”
“[I]t is clear to me that the capability that the Iraqi military now has and will have by the end of this year will allow us to begin reducing U.S. forces significantly below our pre-surge level. We should begin that reduction within four months.”
Listen to all the neo-con’s & scared warmongers spin, spin, spin the comments from Mr. Levin. Just provide a link to the comments in their entirety and allow us to make our own judgement…but hey what’s another 6 more months and another 300+ American soldiers dead matter to these folks!? Yeah, that’s it….just give them and Bush 6 more months….for about the fifth round of using that timeline.
Posted by: Patrick in Chicago | August 20, 2007, 5:23 pm 5:23 pm
How much more clear could Levin’s comments have been? Was the transcript of his words distributed to the media devoid of some of his phrases like “totally and utterly failed?” Did anyone actually hear him or read the entire comment?
Levin could have been stronger: he could have reiterated the failure of everything in Iraq, the illegitimacy of the war, the incompetence of Bush&Co, and the cost in lives and treasure to the American public – even though he didn’t say everything I would have preferred, he was pretty clear with the “total failure.”
But much of the general public only hears/reads headlines and when the MSM completely fails at their job to provide information, it is no wonder why so many people don’t have a clue.
Posted by: Marie | August 20, 2007, 5:24 pm 5:24 pm
If a thousand soldiers say, “We’re winning”, that doesn’t make it so….so many specious comments by undereducated right wingers who think the rest of us are so dumb that we’ll believe their lies. Goering’s advice has been taken by Bush and it works, “Repeat the lies often enough and from enough throats, and the peasants will believe them.” Well, this one isn’t. This war is doomed. Of course, there will be chaos. We knew there would be, counted on it, so we can occupy/own this country FOREVER, and their nice oil reserves.
Posted by: Alice Brown | August 20, 2007, 5:25 pm 5:25 pm
READ YOUR BIBLE AMERICA
“Ye though I say unto you, they shall raise up the least among them to the highest post and he shall appear as a monkee. The sheep shall follow and the lies shall flow like water from the sea. They shall believe his deceptions and follow him unto war with the wrong nation. And Cheney will shoot a guy in the face too.”
Lobotomy 9:11
Posted by: Your Conscience | August 20, 2007, 5:28 pm 5:28 pm
Were you paying any attention at all?
“They have totally and utterly failed.”
Posted by: Mario | August 20, 2007, 6:27 pm 6:27 pm
Johnny,
What parallel universe do you reside in? Just what is your occupation that allows you unfettered access to the opinions of our military personnel overseas? Not to mention Iraqi citizens?
Also, you state we “may yet win this war”. This statement is the most telling as you insist on labeling our illegal occupation as a “war”.
Posted by: elmerg | August 20, 2007, 7:01 pm 7:01 pm
Ive had it up to here with the feckless Congressional leaders and thier assinine ideas. The lack of reconciliation reflects a lack of DESIRE for reconciliation, not a lack of ability to do so. Anyone who is supirsed by Maliki’s acting in the interests of those who elected him (Shia), and not those of the U.S. who are trying to control him, or the Sunnis, who are trying to kill him, is not astute enough to even be called naive. The only thing more obvious than PM Maliki’s (percieved) incompetence is the fact that no other Iraqi leader can/would do any better. Politicians do not hold the power in Iraq, the militia and tribal leaders, along with the sheiks and clerics do. No vote of confidence or any other half baked idea is going to change that. Maliki is doing exactly what his consituents elected him to do, which is to preserve Shia power and dominance until the Americans withdraw, leaving them in control of the country.
Posted by: M.Johnson | August 20, 2007, 7:09 pm 7:09 pm
Ronald Reagan did not fail at foreign policy. He will be remembered as one of our greatest presidents. I know this is an open wound to left wing nutballs but they are entitled to their own opinions but not to their own facts. Levin should know first hand about “no confidence”.
Posted by: Chas | August 20, 2007, 7:15 pm 7:15 pm
Last I saw, the Democratic led Congress had a 4% approval rating when it came to Iraq, and 76% of our population DIS-APPROVED of their ability to do ANYTHING!! Whereas a recent poll by the Iraqi’s on what they thought of their government said this:Overall, a large majority expresses confidence in the Maliki government, the Iraqi army, Iraqi
interior ministry forces and the police. Sunnis have complex and seemingly conflicting attitudes
about the government and its security institutions.
Despite Iraq’s troubles, a large majority expresses confidence in the government led by Prime
Minister Nouri Maliki. Sixty-three percent say that “in its effort to deal with Iraq’s problems,” the
government is doing a very good job (17%) or a somewhat good job (46%).
Large majorities also express
confidence in Iraqi government
forces’ ability to protect their
security. As mentioned above, 64
percent say they have some (40%) or
a lot (24%) of confidence in the Iraqi
army.
So let’s take anything our Congress says about how to govern with large grains of salt.
Posted by: Retired_subsailor | August 20, 2007, 7:29 pm 7:29 pm
What’s really needed to happen is a multi-million troop, U.N. led, onslaught on all al-qaeda and other Islamic extremist. There are no known democratic political systems that will ever take hold until these radicals are dealt with or eliminated. What are the other arabic leaders doing to help Iraq? I’ll tell you where they are. They are all perched to ejoy the spoils of the Iraqi people if the United States does not succeed in their campaign to democratize a monotheistic, socialistic people.
Posted by: George Smith, Jr. | August 20, 2007, 7:34 pm 7:34 pm
See the lefties that frequent this site squirm as they realize their views are nonsense…Americans are smart enough to realize (finally) that running away and diving one’s head in the sand, does not make a sane policy…
We should continue to stay and kill as many bad guys as possible. At the same time, we should continue to lay the ground work for the next steps against Iran and Syria. The wheels are already in motion. Ain’t no stoppin’ us now….
Wake up America! Destruction of the muslim extremists is at hand!
Posted by: jim jones | August 20, 2007, 7:41 pm 7:41 pm
“If a thousand soldiers say, “We’re winning”, that doesn’t make it so” But if a thousand politicians who have gambled their political future that we WOULD lose, does that make it more so? At least Michael Vick only bet on dogs to lose the fight; the Democratic Left has bet against our own sons and daughters, wives and husbands, brothers and sisters, to lose. What should the penalty be for that?
Posted by: Retired_subsailor | August 20, 2007, 7:47 pm 7:47 pm
Intresting. Wish we would do this here!
Posted by: j | August 20, 2007, 7:50 pm 7:50 pm
So just like the ladies running the democrat party, we have Levin taking his 3% approval rating on the road and poisoning another government with is blatant, infantile hatred for the man he serves, George W Bush, his Commander in Chief. No need for diplomats, Secretary of State or the Department of Defense, we have Levin and his big mouth. Once again the democrats have handed the enemy a rare victory! While the rag tag insurgents with there handfuls of IED’s are crushed by American Armed Forces and a kill rate beyond 18 to 1 whenever they dare challenge us, it is the democrats who have invested their political futures in DEFEAT AND FAILURE in Iraq. By conjuring up his own measures of success and arbitrarily judging that measure a failure, Levin seeks to prevent American Victory and Republican success at all cost by personally attempting to destabilize and rot the fledgling democracy from the inside. Meanwhile the poor people of his state, Michigan, live with an economy in ruins……weakest in the nation and 800 more jobs lost last week but he is too focused on screwing up the United States and Iraq to notice. Good work democrat.
Posted by: cheeseytopping69 | August 20, 2007, 8:01 pm 8:01 pm
So when do we get to have a no confidence vote on Bush?
Posted by: Kidd Charlemagne | August 20, 2007, 8:46 pm 8:46 pm
Ask the freak show on the hill with their 3% approval rating….the lowest in the history of polling in the United States. LOL
Posted by: cheeseytopping69 | August 20, 2007, 8:48 pm 8:48 pm
When was Levin selected to replace Biden as Not Ever Going To Be Secretary Of State?
Posted by: Question Authority? QUESTION HILLARY. | August 20, 2007, 8:49 pm 8:49 pm
We have garbage running our Government and yet we think we have the right to demand the Iraqi’s throw out their Prime Minister, What gall.
Posted by: Patriot 2007 | August 20, 2007, 8:59 pm 8:59 pm
By this hour Tuesday, Hillary will be jetting up to West Point to get her photo op with the again popular military leadership, claiming she’s really always been for the surge, and the invasion, and sacking Saddam, and regime change, and confronting Iran, and freeing slaves, and low interest rates, and free trade…
Oh well.
DNC WEATHER VANES HAPPEN.
Posted by: Question Authority? QUESTION HILLARY. | August 20, 2007, 9:04 pm 9:04 pm
Here’a a solution. Reinstate the draft. NO EXEMPTIONS for the poor, middle-class,rich elitists, well connected, politically affiliated or whatever. Draft men and women and subject them all to life threatening situations. Yes, I’m talking about “no special privilege” based on name, connection, or money. When the rich and influential have to sacrifice their “special children” we will see the tone of rhetoric change dramatically in this country.
Posted by: bluezz | August 21, 2007, 12:06 am 12:06 am
Hey Johnny,
Have you refused to talk to the other half that believe what we’re doing in Iraq is a joke? You need to talk to more troops cuz you’re not gettin the entire story.
Posted by: TamSam | August 21, 2007, 5:11 am 5:11 am
Maliki can stay. Bush can go!
Posted by: easystreet47 | August 21, 2007, 9:26 am 9:26 am
Despite the recent record low approval ratings, President Bush and his administration are still arrogant and blinded by the Iraq War. The people of this country are fed up with Bush’s senseless war and the lack of domestic policies. There are much more important issues in this world that the US should be taking part in, such as global poverty. According to the Borgen Project, whose goal is to fight global poverty, US is one of the nations pledged in the Millennium Development Project. MDP is aimed at eliminating world poverty in half by the year 2015. However, this country has done anything but reducing poverty. The war on “terror” has created more poverty, more hunger and more violence within Iraq and the United States. It is time for this country’s president to rethink the direction where this great nation is going. Perhaps the second lowest approval rating since Watergate will be a wake up call to President Bush.
Posted by: Mstessyrue | August 21, 2007, 11:41 am 11:41 am
Al Maliki will go. Bush and his failed policy need another scapegoat to continue the drama.
Posted by: A Viet Nam Vet | August 21, 2007, 12:08 pm 12:08 pm